Treasures of the Sea
by Kinochu
Summary: Lovino is the prince of the sea who decides to go on an adventure of a lifetime with a pirate friend. But was this what they had bargained for? A/N: Revamping in process
1. Prologue

**Chapter 0: Prologue**

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><p><em><strong>Treasures of the Sea<strong>_

**A/N:** Okay, revamping this story because it's old, I love it, and my writing was weird. Praying this is going to make the story better. Tip: Chapter which have been revamped have a proper title and not just chapter one, two, etc..

**Warnings:** T for swearing, pirate x merman.

**Disclaimer:** Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

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><p><em><strong>Prologue<strong>_

Chocolate brown hair glistened in the waters. The figure made its way through the ocean grounds, golden rays of light shadowing it. Making its way to the surface, it popped its head above sea level. There was a slight mist blanketing the ocean that blocked any vision off in the horizon. Something felt wrong though.

_How nostalgic..._

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><p>The winds blew harshly, waves crashing into the sands, and the moon was three-quarter near completion. These portrayed the end of autumn. The gulf was cooling, refreshing and very welcoming. Unlike what would have become in the next few generations, the whole of the land was dark - light only emitted from sparsely lighted night-torches along the beach. Children slept, wives cleaned up and husbands took a shower to self-congratulate their safe arrival home. The sea was never a safe place to be and despite how calm it looked, you could never tell how bad it was going to get until you're on the boat. Usually it was smooth, depending on the time of day, and it rarely became quite the horror. But it was the unsuspected tides – they were larger, stronger - that would sweep you off your feet. Children were never allowed on sea; it was far too dangerous. Yet, as the ship made its way across the currently gentle ocean waters, children's laughter were clearly distinguished.<p>

"Kids! Dinner!" A cheery, audibly intoxicated, man shouted from above deck. He doubted they heard though; the crashing waves roaring proudly throughout the night. The middle-aged man sighed and left his spot on the front deck, where he had stood drinking a mixture of some rum and other alcohols. With a small knock, the tall olive-tanned Spaniard walked into his son's room. Sprawled across the floor in a play fight were three boys. Along with the young Antonio (who lay on his back to the floor) were his two closest friends (who were both attacking Antonio from above), the French boy Francis and the very loud Gilbert. Only Antonio was truly the captain's son. However when he had met Francis and Gilbert, in towns where the crew had stopped by to reload their supplies, he had pleaded his father to adopt them. And so he did. Both were older than Antonio himself, Francis being at the age of fifteen when found, Gilbert was nearing fourteen while the lonely Spanish pirate's son was barely ten. A year has passed since then, and the trio was stuck together like ants to a bowl of sugar. The two adopted ones found it as their duty to raise their new sibling, treating him like how they would have to their own. Of course numerous mischievous pranks were played, but it kept everyone in high spirits, so nobody took them to heart. No matter how badly they shouted, screamed and punished. That was what the "bad friends trio", as they had been dubbed, would hope for.

"Papa!" Antonio squealed as he saw his father looming over his two playmates. Before he could say anything else however, both Francis and Gilbert had started attacking him again. The duo laughed as one tickled their captive while the other held him down. The ship's captain looked over their shoulders at his son's laughing face and joined in the laughing, his booming over the others in his high state. "Children, get your asses out of here. Chef's made an extra special dinner to prepare ourselves for tomorrow." He told the boys with an ear-to-ear grin. At that, the boys screamed in joy and ran out. They raced their way there, Gilbert emerging as the unexpected winner. Once settled down, the trio ate to their heart's content.

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><p>Looming over the thick fog, which had grown suddenly, the sound of the waves picked up. The figure knew what was happening; <em>of course<em> it was a ship heading his way.

Lovino looked onto the horizon, which one could barely make out in the darkness. It took a minute or so of squinting, but fire was pretty easy to spot as it contrasted the surroundings. It had been awhile since the young merman had left for the surface, and he missed looking at those humans. Not that he would ever admit it, but those beings with feet intrigued him. Life underwater didn't expose one to many creatures that had legs and feet, other than crabs. The merman still recalled the day he had first met one such human.

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><p>Francis and Gilbert had retired to their rooms, full stomachs withering away their will to continue playing. The now eleven-year-old Antonio made his way on deck, and stared out into sea. The winds were calm and the tides had much more intimidating days, so the waves formed were small. The night was bright enough; the moon emitting light along with the fire torches along the ship. Fire was dangerous on the ship, so crew had to be careful on board.<p>

Soft gentle winds blew through Antonio's hair; it made him feel at ease. Tomorrow would be the big day; the British Pirates would surely be within reach by evening. He'd get into the fight, Antonio swore, cause he knew. The boy knew that his father's crew had shrunk from their last engagement in battle with the Russians, though they still won. Antonio knew that his father wasn't in his best state of health; he'd cough out blood multiple times, though he tried not to show evidence.

All the thoughts passed through his mind, and he began to worry. It wasn't like him to do so, but he had never actually fought in a real battle before. It was only the multiple lessons he received from either his brothers or father that he had sparred. His father also made sure to teach his son well on the art of sword fighting, and Antonio was a quick learner to the skill.

Suddenly, the young Spaniard's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden splash in the water.

Antonio tried to look over to the sea as much as he could, but ended up having to use a crate of tomatoes to stand on. There, just about ten yards away from the ship was what he wouldn't have ever believed. A head, popped out of the ocean's surface. It didn't scream, yell or cry for help. It just looked up the ship in awe. From what he could see, it was most probably a boy around Francis's age.

Bewildered by the sudden object's appearance, Antonio spoke up to it, "Hey!" He shouted while waving his hands over his head, trying for its attention. The head looked around, finding for the owner of the voice before its bright mix of green eyes landed on the younger boy. Quickly, he whimpered and shot his head below the sea, only his mop of chocolate hair visible. The reaction astonished Antonio, who moved the tomato crate closer to the direction of where the head was, stood back up on it and called again. "Señor! What're you doing?" He shouted. The head slowly resurfaced. It didn't gasp for air, nor did it seem to mind swimming in the ocean at all.

_Why?_

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><p><strong>AN:** Revamped. Hope it has turned out even just a lil' better! I really hated this chapter when I reread it, especially for a certain line. Fixed, and please point out anything you see that doesn't look right or could be improved. Criticism is generally loved. Thank you and I hope you enjoy rereading this (:


	2. fratello, dearest

**Chapter 1: fratello, dearest**

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><p><strong>Treasures of the Sea<strong>

**A/N**: Okay, here's the next revamped chapter. The next chapters aren't going to be coming out as quickly as this.

**Disclaimer**: Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya

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><p>Almost a week had passed since the ship Lovino saw passed. The crew was a joyful bunch, singing and dancing through the ocean. The merman hadn't risked getting too close though. The ship, he noted, was not the one the was looking for. He could see that the ship belonged to the country's government, the patrols swarming the sea in search to kill "<em>them bloody pirates<em>", as he heard. Which was the total opposite of his true goal.

Lovino lay back down on the large rock, which stuck out above the sea level, and sighed. The rock was near the coast, though far enough to not be seen by any human, if one had chosen to walk by. If he had went anywhere closer to the beach, his grandfather would be furious.

"How could you just _run off_ like that? You _know_ it's not safe!" The old man would scold. The last time the brunette had got caught, it was because of his younger dumbass of a brother (as he calls him) tagging along. Feliciano was a really nice boy, and everyone adored him. So how could Lovino have been _stupid _enough to bring that dumbass? It wasn't like everyone just adored Feliciano. They _loved_ him, _preferred _him. Even their grandfather favored the younger, Lovino knew, as he sent men to search for him when Feliciano went missing for several hours.

Sure, they took Lovino back as well. Not like anything ever happened when the older brother disappeared for days and only came back after swimming the entire gulf. Lovino started to glare at the horizon as the memories started stringing themselves back to his mind.

Being the crowned Prince to the throne, life for Lovino was pretty simple. He got a free lifestyle as long as he continued to study. In all honesty, it wasn't like he wanted to inherit the throne - the idea was too much of a hassle - but the promise for the crown was more or less forced onto him. Not because of his blood, not because of some law, not because some man in the heavens said so (well, that better not be the case, at least).

This _"gift"_, the responsibility of their kingdom, was bestowed onto him only because darling Feliciano wasn't up to it.

The merman heaved another sigh and stared out to the ocean. The waves were rather choppy, considering it was in the afternoon, and the Sun was blazing. Clouds were forming together, and through experience, Lovino could tell that a storm was coming soon. "Most likely later in the evening…" He muttered, and just _why did he even bother about the weather_?

Just as he was about to head back into the ocean, an object on the horizon caught his eye. "... Could it be?" He asked out loud. Before he could stop himself, Lovino leaped off the rock and back into the ocean. After what seemed like almost an hour of rapid swimming, he was within earshot of the ship.

It was large, old, and had a real antique feel to it. There were some slight carvings on the stem and stern of the ship. It was simple, yet classy. Lovino gazed at the ship with a warm smile. He'd recognize this ship if it was in the midst of a tsunami and a tornado. Lovino swam to the starboard side of the ship, knowing what to expect there. Just like how he had done so many years before, the Italian merman popped his head above the water and got a clear view of the deck above.

There, right in the middle, was a young man. His skin was olive-tan from being under the sun too much (or maybe it was just natural), and he had thick, dark brown locks of hair that landed right on his shoulders. His hair was much longer than it had been since he was younger, and was tied up with a piece of red ribbon. The young man, probably in his early twenties, looked out into the horizon, a bored expression on his face. Considering how he hadn't moved at all, Lovino figured that he hadn't made a proper entrance.

"What are you doing here, you tomato bastard?"

He shouted out in an annoyed tone, though he knew that his friend would never take him seriously. Lovino was not the least surprised by the other's sudden outburst upon hearing his voice.

"Lovi? That you?" He shouted ecstatically. He was now standing at full attention, arms holding onto the ship as he searched the ocean in front of him for his beloved friend. It didn't take him long to find the mop of chocolate hair, Lovino knew, but he couldn't help but shout back at him.

"No, of course not. I'm just some random voice from the heavens above who decided to have a chat with the stupid pirate in front of me."

The Spaniard, being the airhead he was born to be, jerked his head upwards to the skies looking around for a second for any signs of life. Lovino slapped a hand onto his forehead. _"How dumb can one guy get?"_

"_Bastardo_! Down here!"

Looking down again, he saw the merman and gave a squeal. "Lovino! I missed you so much!"

"Fucking dumbass." Lovino muttered in response, his face scrunching up in annoyance. The Spanish pirate chose to remain oblivious, however and instead taking it as a joke; the other's cursings were practically warm greetings to him.

"Aw, Lovi, don't be so mean to your childhood friend!"

"We've only met barely a handful of times. If that's how long your childhood is, I am _really_ sorry for you."

Lovino couldn't help but smirk as Antonio started shouting back his protests. They continued light bantering for a while, enjoying each other's company. Though the merman would have never admitted it, he really missed the tales Antonio used to tell him. The last they had met was a couple of years back, and the pirate in front of him had grown so much! True, Lovino felt old next to him, but at least by looks Antonio would have seemed a couple of years in the lead. What, how? It was the magic of mermen blood. It made the aging process slower than humans, although Lovino preferred to think of it as legs probably made you age too quickly. And somehow the conversation had also lead back to appearance, and how proud Antonio was for _finally_ looking older than Lovino. As if that was actually something to be proud of.

Suddenly, as Antonio was going on about something relating to Lovino's hair color, the said merman had sunk into the ocean. The pirate stared off at where the brown mop of hair had been just seconds before, registering what had happened. Lovino wasn't one to just randomly abandon conversation like that, he would usually at least announce his departure. Besides, it didn't even looked like the merman had swum off. Yeah, now that he thought about it, it looked more like Lovino was _dragged _off.

"Eh? Lovi!" Antonio shouted to the rippling waters, in hope of the merman reappearing. When nothing happened, Antonio made a quick move and reeled down one of the wooden boats on the side of the ship down. He jumped into it all the way from above, causing a loud splash of water and him almost falling into the ocean as well. "Lovino?" He shouted to the vast expanse of water before him as he made paddled way to where he had last seen said merman. Before he could even reach there however, something broke out of the water. Some _things_ surfaced. The sudden appearance shocked Antonio, who was already resolved to jump into the water once he was closer.

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><p>Lovino was having a nice time with Antonio, just listening to the other going on about hair, when he felt the water near his tail swish to a side. His tail was very sensitive to movement, so Lovino figured it could have just been a random fish swimming by. When he was suddenly dragged underwater, however, his mind suddenly went blank. Who the <em>hell <em>would just drag someone down like that? He still needed to breathe, still needed to prepare himself and take in a gush of oxygen before returning. It was another one of those things that came naturally to merpeople as breathing to humans.

Back on track, a mysterious _someone_ must have thought it funny to almost drown the crown prince of his or her own kingdom. When Lovino turned around to catch a view of his captor, he was barely even surprised. He swiftly knocked his captor's hands off his lower fin and aimed straight to the surface, just as two arms embraced him from behind.

The mermen broke out to the surface - Lovino gasping for air while the other, almost identical to his brother, wrapped his arms the elder's neck in a tight hug.

"Fratello!" The younger shouted. The fratello in question heaved in great huffs of air for a few before turning his attention back at his younger brother. "You idiot," Lovino started, rage seeping from his voice, "I could have drowned!" the merman continued. He even smacked his brother on the side of his forehead, emphasizing how pissed he was. Over from behind him, Lovino suddenly heard a cackle of laughter.

"What the _fuck_ are you laughing at, bastard?" He screamed to Antonio, who was on what looked like a small boat and practically laughing his ass off at god knows what.

Antonio wiped away a tear from his eye, and looked straight at Lovino. "The idea of a merman drowning amuses me, okay?" He replied, a goofy smile playing on his lips as he continued laughing.

"Fuck off, tomato-bastard." Lovino retorted.

"Aw, come one, don't be such a hypocrite. You like tomatoes too!" Antonio whined.

"What's tomato?" The younger merman questioned the quarrelling duo, a large idiotic smile plastered onto his face.

At the question Antonio had another round of laughter, amused by the merman's ignorance. "They're only one of _the best_ grown food the world has to offer!" The Spaniard replied, addressing Lovino's younger brother, proud grin shining.

"Don't treat him like an idiot," Lovino growled, "It's not like we can grow tomatoes in the sea, dumbass." He continued, glaring. Fine, he really did dislike his brother from time to time, but family was still family. And it was obvious that Lovino was just as protective over Feliciano.

"Feliciano, this is Antonio, _Bastardo_," Lovino introduced, emphasizing the insult so much that a vein could have popped, "this is my Feliciano. I'm sure a couple of airheads like yourselves would become the best of friends." Lovino continued, moving his hands to indicate each other. "And a tomato is some sort of an edible, red, round… food." Lovino added, facing his brother to answer his earlier question. He then turned to Antonio. "Get back on your ship and throw some over." He ordered, authority evident in his tone.

"Well you're ever the demanding one." The pirate commented while rolling his eyes playfully and smiling cheekily. Yet he was obedient and rowed back to the ship, pulling his boat back up and climbing back on the deck. There he looked at the side of the ship. From the mermen's point of view, it looked like he had disappeared into the ship. When he reappeared, he held two circular, venetian red mounds. They fitted just the size of his palms and were really plump. "Here you go!" He announced gleefully, throwing the tomatoes into the ocean at the mermen. "Don't lose them!" He added after seeing how, unlike his brother who would catch the fruit with his hand, Feliciano had ran off and hidden behind Lovino when the fruit almost hit him. And Lovino, expert that he was, caught both.

After minutes, the trio was happily munching on their tomatoes, enjoying its taste, and getting juice dripping from their mouths. None cared though, what for?

"So, Feliciano, what are you doing here?" Lovino suddenly asked, turning over to face his brother.

"Eh? Well… I saw you leave earlier this morning. I remember the times you used to leave for days without returning, so I got worried and wanted to follow you. Then grandpa saw me and started telling me some tales of his childhood… When he was done, I was preparing to leave, but then…"

"Save it, I get the idea." Lovino interrupted, annoyance obvious from his face. So everyone back there were too busy with their _oh so precious_ Feliciano that none of them noticed him leave? Oh, he was fine with that. Like he needed their attention. Not like he was the one who was going to rule their kingdom when he becomes of age, why no of course not! The only problem: he was. And nobody even fucking cared.

There was another moment of silence before Lovino spoke up again. "Does the old geezer know you're here?" He asked, his mouth forming a line across his face. He really didn't want to know the answer to the question, though he had already placed his bets.

"Eh? As long as I have fratello here, I'll be fine!" Feliciano joyfully said, diverting the question as he tried to pounce onto his older brother into a tight bear hug.

"Answer the _goddamned_ question!" Lovino demanded, pulling Feliciano off him. Antonio continued standing there, not really sure what to do in the situation. In all the times he had met Lovino, he was alone, so he never actually knew how the merman reacted like to certain things. Like touching for example, in which he had a very good display in front of him.

"Ve~ I haven't told grandpa, fratello… " Feliciano whimpered, looking down in guilt.

At the sight of his sorry brother, Lovino automatically cooled down. The answer was expected, so he wasn't that angry either way.

"Come on, let's get you home." Lovino said, using a hand to lift his brother's head to face his own, where he placed a gentle smile was to calm the other. What else could he do? If Feliciano was caught out here with his brother, and even a _human_, Lovino knew he might as well be left to dry on the mass of a ship.

"No! We can't! You're still with your friend!" Feliciano argued, looking behind Lovino to where Antonio was, who automatically lifted his hands up to his shoulders in an attempt of an innocent approach.

"Oh, don't worry 'bout me. Lovi knows for about how long I'll be here. You get back home!" Antonio quickly said, waving his hands and shooing them off. Really, he didn't know what exactly was happening (hell, he didn't actually know much about Lovino if he thought about it), but he figured he should trust and... support Lovino, for the lack of a better term. There wasn't much else for him to do.

"Well then, we'll leave now Fe-"

And just as sudden as it was before, both Lovino and his brother were pulled back into the water by yet another mysterious force. Antonio stared at the empty waters where they were, scrunching up his face in disbelief.

"_Again_?"

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><p>"Why? Why, why, <em>why<em>, Lovino?" A loud, voice bellowed to the young merman.

From above the decorated flight of stairs to the platform, sitting on the grand throne was a merman. He was well built, his frame overpowering that of the prince's; his hair was medium ash brown and short, tousled and curly; and his facial structure resembled that of Lovino. However it was more masculine, more matured, much more _royal_. Lovino looked up to the man, meeting his accusing stare with a glare of his own. How was any of this his fault? Not like anything unusual happened. Oh, besides the fact that Feliciano followed him. _"I didn't make him follow me or anything!" _Lovino cursed mentally. From experience, he knew that the quickest way to end this was to shut up and let his grandfather pour out his anger onto him. Lovino mastered keeping a straight face in front of the current ruler of their kingdom, but this madness was too over-the-top for even a trained mime to keep their anger hidden. Yet, Lovino did his best to not tick off the elder merman in front of him any more than how he already had.

"_How_ could you do this to Feliciano? You're the heir to the throne! To protect the kingdom, that is your goal! _But you can't even take care of your brother._"

Lovino clenched his fists, _"It'll end soon. Endure." _He told himself, begging his tears not to fall. He had never cried in front of public, never since he was old enough to understand how the world around him worked. To understand how this life of _his_ revolved around _Feliciano_. Lovino continued to glare at his King, his grandfather. His eyes never wavering, flames lit in them. He had used every will he could muster and had turned every vibe in him to the fire in his eyes. Because that was the only way he could communicate to his grandfather. That was the only way he knew how.

"You keep leaving this place, going out and coming back whenever you wish. You think it's okay? Why do you think I allow you to go despite the obvious dangers?"

_Could he actually have cared for-?_

"You think it's so that you can get your brother in danger? So that you can get him near humans? _Why_ would you ever do that, Lovino? Answer me!"

_Right. Why would he care._

"That's it! I give you the highest level of education, the best teachers, the most resources available, and _this_ is how you repay me?"

And something bad was going to happen, Lovino could feel it in his gut.

"You are _not_ to leave this palace anymore."

And it was as if something inside of him shattered at that. The tears streamed down.

"There was never a reason for you to leave in the first place."

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><p>It had been what seemed like a week, or at least what Lovino could tell from behind the enclosed library. He used to feel free in the library; he liked how much <em>space<em> the knowledge within the books gave him. Now, all the millions of shelves did was emphasize his confinement. He felt horrible. Plus, Lovino was going to need some air soon. He might as well drown in the ocean's depths, though. Not many would actually believe it. Mermen were supposed to be able to last for at least a couple of months on end without needing to resurface for air. Lovino, however, was so used to surfacing whenever he felt like it, required a new supply of oxygen at least once a week. Maybe ten days, if he felt like being a lil masochist.

From the time Lovino had been under house arrest to the current time, Lovino had not made any effort to go anywhere. He just stayed in the library, dipping himself into the multitudes of books offered. However the merman wasn't one to just sit down and stay like an obedient puppy. He wanted, no, _needed_, to get out of the palace. Time did not go to too much waste there though. There was, indeed, a plan.

From a look outside the windows, he could very well see the darkness upon his waters. Considering the amount of time since the last servant who had come in to serve him dinner, and the amount of time since the last guard had came in to check on him, Lovino could pretty much tell it was almost midnight. He was fine though; the amount of work he'd been doing (or rather _not_ doing) had kept his body with energy, regardless of the small amounts of sleep he had. As quietly as he could, Lovino swam to one of the most secluded areas of the library, where he had kept a pile of fishbone from his previous meal. He grabbed a handful and made his way to the closest window. It was locked, of course. Though with a bunch fishbone, a little experience and a heck a lot of time, Lovino was pretty sure it won't be too long before he was free.

Hours later, _just_ as he was going to give up, the lock clicked open at last.

"Finally."


	3. Chapter 2

**Treasures of the Sea**

_**Chapter Two**_

**A/N:** Well, I'm real happy with all the support I got from the last chapter! Thanks so much, it motivated me lots! And I would hope that everyone enjoys this chapter and continues to support me~ And sorry if this took awhile, I'll try to submit a new chapter every weekend (:

**Disclaimer:** Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya

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><p>"And after all that time, one would have thought that you would have just continued on your journey."<p>

"Aw, Lovi, you know I can't go without saying goodbye to you!"

That was how their usual exchange of farewells had been and, despite what had happened, Lovino figured that that day should not have been any different. He would really miss the pirate; they barely even got to talk much. All thanks to his _awesome _grandfather, of course. Blaming Veneziano didn't seem like the right thing to do, for he recalled the younger one wanting the three of them to continue as they were. Whether that actually made sense, Lovino couldn't care less, but all his mind could register was that it was the King's fault. _Everything_ was his fault.

Despite the shortage of time together, the duo started chatting freely with each other again. Antonio had even decided to hop back onto that small boat of his and row up to Lovino to be able to talk better. They started off with finding out where they had been interrupted in their last meeting, and then it turned to Veneziano. After a while of talking about his younger brother _too_ much, Lovino felt that he needed to change the topic. The merman could never really tell how he actually felt about his brother. Sometimes he loved him and would protect him with all his heart, but at other times it just seemed that everyone loved Veneziano too. Though, _of course_, they loved him. At least they shouldn't make it so obvious. It was always "Veneziano and _his brother_…" And to think _he_ was the heir throne, not Veneziano.

"So what happened anyway?" Antonio asked, bringing back Lovino from his momentary memories. The question itself was innocent and hadn't meant any harm, but just the idea of having to talk about anything from the time he and his brother got "rescued from the human" made an anchor drop in his chest. Lovino felt his mouth form into a scowl and… were there tears in his eyes? He hadn't done anything (such as crying or letting lose his temper) for the past week he had been trapped in that horrible cage; Lovino was practically a living, breathing, eating chunk of flesh that just floated around the library. Yes he planned his escape, though considering a breakout from his own _home_ took a week to execute, one could imagine just how enthusiastic he was.

The merman prince heaved a sigh and looked up to his human friend. He thought of something to say, cause he really didn't want to start complaining when Antonio was due to leave soon. So Lovino more or less just said the first thing that came to his mind.

"That's my personal life. Mind your own business." He shot angrily at the Spaniard, glaring up at him. His scowl grew larger. Lovino just hoped that Antonio had enough brains to understand that what he said was meant to get him to shut up. Comment on the weather, say where he was going next, maybe tell another tale… Anything to change the topic was good enough. Though, as expected, the ignorant fool dismissed his merman friend. Antonio knew something must have happened, Lovino was pretty much like an open book waiting to be read.

"Lovi, you know you can trust me. Right?" Antonio urged the merman to explain what happened, an honest smile dawning his features.

Just that simple phrase made Lovino feel like he could open his heart to Antonio. The way he had said such a simple, common even, line had melted away the block of ice keeping him from breaking down. With tears accumulating, Lovino poured his soul into each detail as he retold his story. But it was more than just a story. It had been his life. So since it was the best time he would ever get, the merman expressed his thoughts. He sighed and waved off the tears, saying that water was getting into his eyes.

"He wouldn't have listened to my side of the story, so I couldn't even bother telling."

"I was stuck in that piece of shit for ages. There were even bloody _guards_ just to make sure I didn't leave!"

"But…"

Lovino had felt his cheeks slightly redden just from doing all that talking, and looked down embarrassed. Why was he even telling him all this? What hurt the most, however, was that Lovino had come to a realization through all that talk. It even lit up a small part of him. To be able to feel like that about his ordeal disgusted him. The idea was inevitable though.

"That was the first time… grandpa actually took care of me… for such a long… period of time." Lovino whispered softly, more to himself rather than the Spaniard he was with. He looked up at Antonio and felt his eyes watery; the tears were threatening to spill anytime soon. "Why, Antonio? Why does whatever he do _have_ to be for Veneziano?" Lovino asked softly, his mouth forming a thin line and his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to keep his tears to himself. Obviously, though, that didn't work.

"I don't know, Lovino." The human replied, using his hand to cup the other's cheek. It was soft, slightly warm despite the cool water because of his little tint of blush. His dear friend looked so pitiful; how had he not known that Lovino was living such a sad life? Extending his thumb, Antonio used it to wipe away the tears that had begun to slowly trickle down.

"Don't cry… it's all going to be alright, 'kay? I'm right here, see?" Antonio started, trying to add in some cheer to his voice in his efforts to comfort the merman.

"What could you do?" Lovino shot back. His voice was pathetic, interrupted by a muffled hiccup halfway of the sentence. It wasn't meant to insult, rather, it was a straightforward question. Really, if Antonio _really_ could make everything go away, how would he? Lovino internally wished that Antonio knew the answer. And maybe someone heard his wish, because what the next thing that was spluttered out from the pirate's mouth amazed him.

"You could always come along with me?" Antonio suggested, though from his tone it was more of a question. Yet the pirate was smiling broadly with so much bliss, so much pleasure, so much joy… and the energy seemed to have transmitted to the young merman. The thought was so nice. To escape his grandfather, his brother and all those unappreciative _bastards_ back at home. To just run away from all his problems…

"What the hell! Like I could ever do something like that! I have responsibilities you know, I'm the…"

"I _know_! That's why just run away with me!" Antonio retaliated, his mind now set to getting his friend to follow him on his journeys.

"What the fuck do you- Ah, you don't know anything!" Lovino started, ready to begin rambling about how ridiculous the idea was, but was suddenly cut off by another thought. If he escaped and never came back, he could just start a new life. Then he really wouldn't need to face his grandpa again. Somehow, he saw this in a new light. _"It doesn't sound that bad actually…"_

Lovino looked straight into Antonio's eyes, daring him to say it was a joke. The merman was suddenly very determined to run away from everything. Just… maybe he needed to be able to say goodbye to his brother. If he wasn't going to see everyone for a long time, it was only his idiotic brother Veneziano whom he would wish to say goodbye to. Not like anyone else would bother about him, anyways.

"When do you plan to leave?"

* * *

><p>Lovino had exactly one day to tell his dear brother goodbye. By afternoon, Antonio would continue and make his way across the gulf. Actually, the pirate crew was supposed to leave right there and then, but no one complained to the captain about the change of plans. For now, it was a scorching hot afternoon, Lovino was nervous and Antonio was on deck, eating a tomato.<p>

"What the hell should I _do_?" Lovino grumbled. His intentions of leaving were still with him, but the idea suddenly didn't feel as easy to execute as expected. Considering that the merman _did_ run away just the night before. People were obviously going to try to look for him. Hopefully.

"If you're gonna do anything, better do it quick!" Antonio replied quirkily, his trademark grin wide on his face. He took another bit of his tomato as he observed his merman friend.

"Don't state the obvious, dumbass."

"Well, you asked…"

"I need a way to contact my brother, okay?" Lovino said to the pirate, facing him. Lovino was, of course, still in the water, his torso upwards above sea level. His tail was concealed underwater, and Antonio was curious as to what it looked like. Despite knowing him for so long (as Antonio claims) the pirate had never seen anything below the other man's torso (he didn't mind _that_ though).

"Oi, I've got a plan." Lovino stated suddenly, interrupting Antonio's thoughts. The merman looked up and held eye contact with the pirate, a slight smirk on his lips.

"You do? What is it?" Antonio asked back, his voice full of anticipation and excitement.

"Well, it's lunchtime now…"

"What?"

"I'll need your help in this. Shut up and pay attention."

* * *

><p>"Why the <em>hell<em> do I feel like a criminal?" Lovino thought bitterly to himself. He was scaling the walls as close he could. If he could just merge into the stone barriers, he would gladly do so. Though of course, that was impossible.

"I mean… it's my own home." He said out loud, taking a swift turn to the right once he had reached a forked end of the hallway. The merman expertly slipped through each hallway, quickly managing to hide behind randomly placed furniture to dodge the guards. Though him being Lovino, the prince who found it usual to take mini escapades to the surface, he had already known around what time which guard would be making his rounds and where. He could more or less remember which were the ones who would usually come in later, and those that liked taking a seat to just relax for a moment.

After a few more minutes playing his well-practiced game of "slipping-through-the-hallways", Lovino entered a large dome-shaped chamber. There were a few bookshelves around, a couple of high-end antiquities and such arranged neatly around the room. The roof was frosted glass, and provided a fogged view of the far-away surface as well as giving adequate sunlight.

Two doors were visible, both being made of engraved stone. They seemed pretty heavy, but by the way Lovino dashed through one made it seem featherweight. Inside his own room, the merman took good last look at his room. This was where he had spent most of his indoor times since he was young, and he would terribly miss the comfort and solitude it gave him. Lovino made his way to one side of his room, where his bed lay. From under the choral mess, he dug out an opened crate that was full of all sorts of knick-knacks. There were worthless, yet beautiful looking shells, lots of different colored stones, a bottle of sand he had picked up from the shore once… And after what seemed like too long, Lovino managed to dig out a seashell. It wasn't anywhere near abnormal; it could pass as a typical horse conch seashell (which is mainly why Lovino still had it). What was special about this shell wasn't how it looked, though it was a rather dull shade of rose pink differing from a more usual pale yellow, but instead its use. Lovino had used this many times before, and now yet again it would help him deliver his message to Veneziano.

Lovino smacked the shell, and started whispering secret enchantments into it. The shell flashed a bright fluorescent pink for a moment before returned to its usual color, indicating Lovino that it was ready to record.

"Oi, dumbass," Lovino said to it, talking to the shell. The message was going to be for his brother, and even if Veneziano was a dumbass, he knew how to use the shell. "So I'm guessing you know I ran away? I'm just going to say this once. I'm not coming back. I'm sick, _sick_ and _tired_ of this place. It's hell here for me, you know… I need my freedom." Lovino continued. He sighed before continuing on, suddenly finding it rather difficult to join together the jumbled words in his mind. "I'm going with that _bastardo_ you met a while back… when you followed me to the surface. Antonio, remember?" He said, awkwardly asking the question. It hurt him that he would never get to hear Venziano's answer.

"I made my escape around midnight and found his ship almost immediately. It was most likely a spur of the moment, but he suddenly offered to take me with him. You know I can't stand this place, and a good adventure was something I could never pass on."

Lovino paused. He sniffed a bit and realized that thinking this through was making him teary again.

"Fratello, don't come look for me. I… I'll miss you… B-bye!" He said, shouting rather unnecessarily loud the last bit, with the intention of ending it there. Suddenly, a phrase came to mind. Should he say it, yes he knew he should, but… how could he? A light tint of blush spread across his cheeks as he thought it through.

"Oh… and… You dumbass. I-I… lo…ve you, k-kay? Take care… idiot."

With that, Lovino gave the conch shell another hit, only this time much gentler than when he had first hit it. So that was it, he had recorded his message; all he needed to do was to drop of his shell. It would be his final time dropping it off, too. Lovino felt his heart dig itself deep below where it should have been, and tears slowly building up. No, he couldn't cry now, it would ruin everything. Fluid like the shadows, he slipped in and out of his brother's room. He had placed it on his bed, where he always had left it. Hopefully he wouldn't bump into anyone; the plan was going too well to end anytime soon. With that in mind, he made his way back to the dome chamber. He opened the door to a shock. There, in the middle of the room, was a maid. She cleaned the bookshelves and was rearranging the books when her head shot straight to Lovino when she heard the door open.

"P-prince Lovino?" She stuttered, while Lovino just dumbly stared back at her. The maid took a moment or two, brain cells working on what she should do, before finally coming to a decision. Throughout that whole time, Lovino just continued to stand there, frozen shock to the door.

"GUARDS!" The maid yelled at the top of her voice, franticly. At that reaction, Lovino dashed towards her and clamped her shut with his hands to her mouth.

"Shh!" He hissed, suddenly his earlier sadness morphing into annoyance. And as quickly as he had held her, he let her go and dashed out of the palace. Lovino was running out of time, he knew, and couldn't care less about being stealthy anymore. The escapee swam as fast as his tail could take him, not caring about hitting the ornaments and glass decorations along the way. They crashed, and made loads of disruption to the usual silent atmosphere, making the guards fully aware of an infiltration.

Lovino swam and swam, through doors, hallways, tables and chairs… anything in his path. He swam through the gates of the castle and made his way skywards. A school of fish swam by, stopping his path. No way would he swim through that, their fins looked sharp to his delicate skin. Lovino momentarily looked back to the kingdom below him, hearing quite the ruckus blooming. He was sure they'd figure out he had escaped the place soon enough and would start searching soon. "Better leave soon. That Antonio better be ready…" He trailed off, looking back to the surface and seeing space for him to continue. Within minutes, he was back up on the surface, bursting his head out of the water. From below he had directed himself to the ship, and was now next to an Antonio, who was sitting on the small boat he had used earlier, a surprised expression on his face.

"Lovi! I'll help you up!" The pirate squealed at the sight of his friend, standing up and walking to the other end of the boat where Lovino was. They stretched out their arms and grabbed the other's hand.

* * *

><p>It had been a normal day; the crew of the Night's Deceit was prepared to leave the Mediterranean gulf, where they had stopped by to restock their supplies. Everything seemed very odd though. For all their on-sea life, Francis and Gilbert could always remember a pattern in Antonio's trips. He had always done his best to pass one particular spot in the Mediterranean ocean. He wouldn't land the ship on a port however, as he claimed that there were too many marines looming around. Francis was pretty sure that there were much more dangerous ports for them and they made it there perfectly safe. Gilbert was very confident that Antonio made the ship anchor almost <em>exactly<em> where they always did. The duo would always crack their heads as to why their captain would bother doing such things, but didn't pester him. They tried casually asking him once, but he dodged the question and Francis said that it was best not to confront him with it. Surely it wasn't like they couldn't trust their own captain. Antonio would, somehow, surely have some sort of reason…

And it was just that day (or rather night), the last they had before they leaved by dawn, where Antonio said that he wanted the crew to stay just for one more day longer. This left the crew curious as to why, even leading Gilbert to ask him. And he did as politely as he could of course. Though considering it was the rough mouthed albino we're talking about here, one shouldn't expect much.

"Relax, Gil! Just you wait, I've got a surprise for all of you guys!" Antonio replied gleefully to his Quartermaster. Antonio actually answering him took the quartermaster in question aback, thought it just lead to more questions. Surprise?

"But I'll need just you and Francis to be here, waiting for me, kay? I'll be waiting down there on the boat for your surprise to come!" The captain added chirpily, his grin broadening all the way to his eyes.

* * *

><p>The next thing Francis knew, he was laying down on deck, bored, while his other shipmates were cleaning up, having drinks or maybe just lazing around. There wasn't much to do, since the ship was still anchored. Only Gilbert lay beside the French pirate, and Francis was slightly glad he wasn't alone. According to their instructions, Antonio would call and give them the signal for them to pull up the boat when he was done. And as told by Antonio, "It may be a little… heavy."<p>

The day had dragged by real slowly, and the only company he had was in his German adopted brother. Gilbert was going on about how he missed his little bird friend; Gilbird as he narcissistically named it, had mysteriously disappeared for a while. Francis merely nodded gloomily as he gazed up at the sky, the clouds thankfully blocking the sunlight from glaring into his eyes.

"Oh enough, Gilbert. I'm sure that birdie would come back sooner or later. I don't see how it'd get food in the middle of the Mediterranean ocean." Francis interrupted him coolly, far too bored from his blabber to care.

"That's exactly the point! He'd die without anyone awesome enough to feed him. And you know _I'm_ the only one that's awesome!" Gilbert continued whining, rolling from his back to his stomach and resting his head on one side to face the older man.

"That's it, I'm sick of listening to you all day. What is that Antonio doing?" Francis asked, changing the topic. Together, they got themselves up from their positions and hovered over to the side of the deck and looked below, where the captain in question sat. He was sitting patiently, a small smile on his face as he hummed a bubbly tune and stared of into the horizon. What in the world was he looking for?

"Ah, maybe he's just gonna wait for treasure to magically surface over the water or something…"

"Ha! I bet he's waiting for some sort of genie in a lamp to give him three wishes!"

"That'd be awesome! Just imagine, he'd awesomely give us one of the wishes each and…"

"Francis! Gilbert! PULL!" Antonio suddenly shouted from the small boat below, momentarily surprising the duo.

"Aye!" They shouted back in unison as the two started pulling the lines, hoisting Antonio and whatever _freaking heavy _luggage he was carrying. "You better be carrying some awesome treasure. What the hell is so heavy?" Gilbert shouted as they pulled their captain up, tying the boat securely and finally looking up towards Antonio. Almost his whole body looked like it had gone through some swimming, but the duo was pretty sure he looked dry just earlier.

What was really wrong about the picture, however, wasn't Antonio himself. Rather, it was the cargo he had brought along with him. Underneath a large black piece of cloth… that was this "surprise" Antonio was speaking of earlier. And whatever it was, it was _moving_.

"What in the world is that, 'Tonio?" Gilbert asked in bewilderment. "You didn't kidnap anyone, did you?"

"Quite the contrary. I helped him escape!" Antonio replied in his usual gleeful manner. He turned around and picked up whatever it was and brought it onto the ship. A few crewmembers had noticed the commotion and started pouring in from wherever they were. A particularly smart looking brunette walked up past the small circle and straight towards the bad friends trio.

"Ah, Roderich! I've got a surprise!" Antonio said, gently putting down his baggage onto the side of the deck. The cloth had stopped moving and was now perfectly still. Francis and Gilbert were scrutinizing it and couldn't even begin to guess what was inside it; and that was when the captain decided it was time to show them what the big fuss was all about.

"Meet Lovi!" He squealed childishly as he took off the black cloth with a single swipe. This 'surprise' Antonio got was sure one surprising one indeed – no one could believe what was before their very eyes.

"You caught a _mermaid_?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thanks everyone for reading! If you could, please drop a review too! Hope you enjoyed. I'll get another chapter up as soon as I can~!  
><strong>EDIT:<strong> Ohmygod, I just looked it up and it said that the "first mate"were apprentices. Damn, I didn't know that. So I just edited this and made Gil the Quartermaster, which is where he belongs XD Sorry for the misconception!


	4. Chapter 3

**Treasures of the Sea**

_**Chapter Three**_

**A/N:** Woah, getting more and more reviews! Thanks everyone! This was actually quite hard to write. Plus its exactly 12am where I am, so I guess I just barely made my dateline... Anyways, please review and enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya

* * *

><p>"Is it alive?" Francis asked curiously, stepping forward and crouching beside the motionless merman and examining Lovino's features.<p>

"Why of course, Francis!" Antonio answered excitedly, crouching next to the older man. He too stared at the merman with curiosity. The final of the bad friends trio, Gilbert the albino, joined them as well.

"He doesn't look alive…" Gilbert added, noting how his skin looked like it was going to dry.

"Ah, Gilbert, could you get everyone to get the ship moving? Lovi can't stay in the Mediterranean for awhile." Antonio told his quartermaster, remembering how this was all happening because the merman was escaping his own kingdom. Gilbert gave a puzzled expression to his captain but left anyways; shouts of orders to raise the anchor and rig the masts following. Numerous men appeared to the albino's orders, tending to the ship. Antonio stood up and observed his men moving, glad that his crew were so hardworking. Especially since it's been almost over a week since the ship stopped.

"So, why is this 'Lovi' of yours on board the ship?" A male voice asked from Antonio's looked up at the owner of the voice, the ship's sailing master, Roderich. He wasn't too tall; in fact, he was shorter than the entire bad friends trio. The Austrian man was rather high class compared to the rest of the crew - sporting small yet smart reading glasses and a purple coat, worn over his clean, long-sleeved, white shirt and followed by his black trousers. Although Gilbert wore similar clothing, his coat, now tied around his waist due to the heat, was navy blue and seemed rather faded from age. Francis had a different coat, it was much longer than the other's (whose coats reached their knees) and it landed almost to the lower part of his calf. It was a light baby blue, which was what he considered fashionable. While Francis and Antonio had to tie their long hair with a ribbon, Gilbert and Roderich had kept their hair short enough to not disrupt any activity they may need to do.

Antonio looked back at Roderich and Francis's curious looks with the usual excitement on his own.

"Well, Lovi here just ran away from home!" He stated, as if there was _totally_ nothing wrong with that.

Francis felt his jaw drop, though Roderich remained skeptical. "Sure, because he's not some prince who's being forced into whatever hell life he's living because everyone's being biased or anything." The Austrian remarked.

"How should I know? Though it _would_ be cool if Lovi was a prince!" Antonio said gleefully, not catching the other's sarcasm. Well, of course Lovino hadn't mentioned that he indeed was a prince, but it's not like Antonio needed to know everything. Antonioused the back of his palm to run over Lovino's cheek, which suddenly felt rather dry… though of course the pirate captain didn't paytoo much attention to it. All his brain could register was how adorable the little merman in front of him looked. And how surprisingly calm he was when knocked out.

"Aw, look at him," Francis started cooing, "I think the Captain's fallen in love!" He said, gesturing at Antonio as Gilbert came jogging back**. **He laughed maniacally as a response and held both Francis and Roderich around their necks with both his arms in a sort of hug.

"This calls for a celebration!" Gilbert bellowed, eager to get any reason to bring out the high quality beer Antonio was keeping for any "just-in-case" moments. The pirate captain looked over his shoulder back at the three behind him and shrugged.

"I doubt I could fall in love with someone so fast, but – "

"Oh hey, look! His hair is messed up!" Francis quickly chirped, interrupting his captain and ignoring the disapproving pout he got. The older pirate gotbackdown on his knees in front of the merman and examined the curl. "Let the big brother Francis, here, help get your hair back together!" Francis said childishly, placing a hand over the curl and pulling it in an attempt to smoothen it out.

And instantaneously, the merman's eyes jerked open, his back shot up in an alert mode, and immediately his mouth was at full work screeching all the vulgarities he knew.

"What the _fuck_? Don't _fucking_ touch my curl, you _bloody_ _dumbass_! Don't just _fucking_ randomly touch another _goddamned_ person you _bastard_! Who the _fuck_ wo-"

"Lovi! You're awake!" Antonio interrupted him, pushing away the very shocked Francis and jumping onto Lovino in a bear hug, causing them to fall backwards. A muffled protest could have been heard behind the mess of different shades of brown hair being messed together as Antonio dug his face into the crook of Lovino's neck. He recoiled quickly, however, because of the sudden scream of pain from the merman in front of him.

"Ahh! Damn it, it hurts! My skin's too dry, fucker!" Came the screams, followed by another long line of profanities. It should have come with its own censorship, too, considering that none of it was even going to be registered into Antonio anyways. It just made the crew's ears sore. Though, of course most were curious as to why the merman was screaming, having not paid attention to what was happening prior to the screaming.

"Get that damned mermaid to shut the hell up." Gilbert said with a frown on his face, not liking how the view of the bright blue sea, the shady puffy clouds on the clean blue sky covering the bright afternoon sun, was being ruined by the choice of such colorful words. Hearing the albino pirate's protests, Lovino's face reddened with a mix of embarrassment and rage.

"Excuse me? I'm a mer_man_, asshole! Nowhere near a fucking female, you bastard!" The merman shouted louder than ever. To this, the pirate scoffed, retorting something about there being no difference. Lovino muttered something under his breath in return, though those weren't very important.

"Oi! Get me some water!" Lovino started whining, his face having some sort of pitiful scowl. "My skin's gonna start peeling soon." He continued, a little fear visible in his eyes. How could everyone be so calm, joking around and such, when he was in such agony just by having contact with the _fucking piece of wood below him_? His skin felt like it was melting into the wood but it was definitely peeling - first starting to dry up, then becoming totally stiff and then finally peeling itself off. "It hurts, kay?" He whimpered sadly, suddenly feeling very miserable at how useless he was at keeping his own body in good shape.

A sudden splash of water all over him suddenly made Lovino brighten up. "Eh?" He looked up questioningly to see a young man before him holding a couple of buckets in each of his hands, proving that it was him that helped Lovino out of his horrible de-skinning process. The man before him wasn't rather tall, had long, tan brown hair that reached his waist and had it tied up in a simple tail behind him. The merman sure needed a lot of saving, now that he thought about it, and Lovino felt a sudden in-dept towards his rescuer. He managed a shy thanks and offered the man a smile, who in turn smiled warmly back at the merman and left, most likely to return the buckets to where they belonged. This guy was definitely different from the other pirates, very different.

At the thought of the others, Lovino turned around to look at Antonio, who had magically been transported to the middle of the deck (Lovino was placed somewhere along the sides) chatting wildly with the three other pirates he saw earlier.

"So how did you get a mer_man_?" The albino asked, making sure to emphasize the word 'man' incase a particular mer_man _decided to listen in their conversation.

"We were friends from childhood!" Antonio replied honestly, cheerful and unaffected by all the screaming of curses earlier.

Lovino sighed; maybe he shouldn't have run away with Antonio. How could he have expected a _human_ to care for him, when his own kind didn't feel the need to? No, it was not only his own kind, his own _family_?

It was just at that moment when he noticed that a figure was walking up to him. Lovino looked; it was the same man who poured the water on him. Looking back at his own skin, Lovino could see that it was still really hard and some had already started peeling along his arms, but at least there were still some water droplets dripping.

"Thank you." Lovino said again when the man arrived at him.

"No problem. And don't mind those idiots," He gestured towards Antonio and gang, who seemed to be having some sort of argument suddenly, and continued, "They're the most dumbest of people you'd ever find." He explained, a slight smirk on his face.

"Do you need to go back in the sea, merman?" The man asked, looking back at Lovino. The merman nodded his head. "I hope you don't mind a dive, then." The man said, and Lovino felt himself surprisingly being carried. With a short three-second countdown (which barely even registered in his mind) Lovino plunged into the sea below him, feeling the cooling seawater engulf him. Everything didn't feel as bad, anymore, now that he was back in the water.

"Thanks again!" He shouted back. For a second, his mind flashed an idea of escaping, but then Lovino remembered that he had nowhere to run to. What would be the point then? The man, from up at the deck, leaned on the side of the ship and looked down to Lovino and smiled.

"So… what's your name?" Lovino asked suddenly, thinking that maybe he'd be able to make friends with this guy at least.

"Everyone calls me Eric, so feel free to do so as well." He said with a smile. Even though he was further away than he was earlier, Lovino had a gut feeling that this 'Eric' person was hiding something. The merman shrugged it off, and decided that it was only polite to introduce him as well.

"I'm Lovino." He said simply, though its not like he needed to explain much. It was pretty obvious he had a tail instead of feet, plus how he needed to stay in water to avoid burning up and having his skinned peeled again.

"So I overheard that you'll be following us?" Eric asked, though it was more of a statement in need of confirmation.

"Yeah. I hate it back at my place." Lovino answered, not eager to talk about anything he should consider his past. "Can I have a tomato, Eric?" Lovino asked kindly, a small smile on his face. At that, the pirate grinned and left to get a tomato.

"Catch!"

* * *

><p>The days went by quickly, and everything turned into a routine after almost a week. Around evening of the day he ran away from home, Lovino had been introduced to most of the crew. Everyone was open to him, thankfully, and didn't mind having him around. Though of course it didn't change much for everyone's lives. Everyday, Lovino would stay in the sea; relaxing in the sea, while the crew went around doing whatever it was they needed done everyday. The merman had constant visits, usually either Antonio or (joyfully for him) Eric, who started treating him like a friend. Over just one week, Lovino had learnt, felt, and experienced so much more than he had from just the handful of visits he had from Antonio when they were younger.<p>

Everyday, he noted, the Captain of the ship made his way out for breakfast, briefly nodding a greeting to Lovino before skipping off. When he was done, Antonio would then come and talk with the merman, their chats ranging from five minutes to almost two hours. After that, Antonio would have had to leave to attend to some work. But that was okay, because once the coast was clear, Eric would step in, filling in Antonio's empty space up on the deck. For them, conversation was light and simple, taking miraculously an average of three hours straight - depending on the time they started.

By the time it was lunch, Eric would throw a tomato for Lovino and leave to get his own food. The merman would eat the tomato quickly, before leaving to go find some seaweed and such for him to munch on. By the time he came back, Antonio would usually already be waiting for him. The pirate captain would stand where he always did, at the middle of the deck, and stare into the horizons. The first time Lovino saw him like that, he seemed rather dreamy and calm… how out of character for such a bouncy, happy-go-lucky person. The merman at firstwould just knock off the feeling and scream at the pirate, awakening the latter from his thoughts. Somehow or the other, he suddenly found himself staring at him everyday_just_ slightly longer than the previous. Maybe it was how calm he was, and Lovino felt guilt for disrupting someone he never knew could be so serene. If Lovino's first impression of Antonio were he being capable of such peace, maybe he wouldn't have had such a whiny tone on him all the time. Or it could be that _look_ in his eyes, gazing deep into the bright, clear skies that captured him. Lovino found it almost impossible for him to have been able to look so thoughtful, so knowing… so ready. For what, the brunette merman had no idea, but the feeling was definitely there. It was possible that Lovino could have been imagining it all, fitting the mood with the given picture (he had had a history of doing such things before too), but he had a hunch that this wasn't one of those times. Hopefully.

As soon as Lovino noticed that he was staring at Antonio, the merman (could it be to cool his embarrassment or just some sort of reflex?) would automatically dunk himself downwards into the water, as if to hide his face. Face burning red, the merman just hated how he could even stare off at someone for so long… and catch himself do it almost _everyday_. Maybe it was just because Antonio was rather coollooking,somehow creating a kind of mysterious feature to him.

Only after a solid fifteen minutes would Lovino actually call out to Antonio and start talking. It was just another bunch of random chatter - what Antonio had for lunch, the types of fish Lovino saw, what different things humans had and did that merman didn't… the weather even. After that, both Lovino and Antonio would take an afternoon nap. It was a routine time for Lovino to do so ever since he was young, so he figured he might as well continue since he had nothing much else to do. Antonio, too, had had afternoon naps since childhood, and even though he had some stuff to do every now and then, the captain tried to maximize his siesta time.

By the time Lovino wakes up, he'd see either Eric or Gilbert (usually both) on deck. If the two were together, chances that they had been arguing for some time were extremely high. Both of them didn't really get along - Gilbert being the all high-and-mighty, proud and loud troublemaker he was while Eric was an aggressive young man who believed in modesty and simplicity, always going out of his way to prove his points to the ship's quartermaster. Well, they did have their moments, where working together to get little jobs done, but it never really lasted long. Nowhere near the amount of time they spent trying to screw each other's brains out at least. By dinnertime, Francis would be calling for the two to eat their food before it was cold. Gilbert would rush to wherever it was they ate dinner, Eric tailing behind holding the intention to run after and ambush his senior in his interrupted rage. If Lovino had called out to them before Francis did, whether it was to get them to stop fighting out of annoyance of the ruckus or just because he was getting lonely, Eric would get another tomato or two for Lovino.

Soon after, Antonio would join Lovino for a little tomato snack before his dinner. He said he liked eating dinner later than the others, so he insisted on giving Lovino some company. After finishing the tomato, the pirate would leave for dinner. At about an hour later, Eric (who had to clean the deck with some others) joined the merman again. Sometimes Francis came and checked the rigs, and had small chatter with Lovino as well. Though, Lovino found he cursed most when he was talking to the French pervert. The ship's sailing master Roderich would show his face from time to time as well, as he needed to take down their location. He had explained how it was done, but Lovino could barely understand half of what the man said. He learnt that Roderich was a very money-conscious and stingy person despite his high-quality looking clothes. The man was actually from a high-class noble family but had been forced to join the crew a few years ago when the ship they were travelling on was captured. Even though he was still a young boy then, his parents and family had willingly given him up for their lives. Antonio was disgusted by their actions and offered Roderich to be their sailing master, considering he was one of the only people on their ship to actually have an education. Besides that, Antonio also ordered to leave the family's ship on fire as they left. At first the young Roderich cried, but soon he understood the situation and gave in. His parents were willing to abandon him, might as well do as what the pirates wanted. Soon, he found that the pirates who captured him were still friendly people in heart, and Roderich had been on rather good terms since. It was because of his "heroic" and "story-like" past as well as his "conservative" and "cool minded" personality that Eric admitted that he indeed had admired the sailing master for some time.

Back on track, just before going to bed, Antonio would hop onto that little boat (the same one he used to help Lovino escape) and would have a decent talk with the merman. It usually ended with a sweet goodnight before he got back up on the ship and left to sleep. And that was when Lovino slept as well. He would take a nice deep breath, fill his lungs with as much oxygen as he could and then go not too deep underwater to doze off to dreamland. It was always a joy for him to be able to wake up to clear blue skies.

On one such day, where the morning skies were unusually blue, the clouds were fluffy and the breeze was light and cooling, Lovino woke up with a sort of worried feeling. He had a dream, though very vague, and it dampened his mood. Not very nice to wake up because of some dream where your younger brother was screaming for you to help him as he was being captured by some notorious humans. It gave him a bad feeling of what was going to happen that day but, just as he did whenever he got that feeling, Lovino ignored it and went on with his new daily routine.

* * *

><p>The ship hadn't actually been sailing much. It was quite a decent sized beauty, and only half of all the masts were actually being used. There was a problem, the captain found, about having Lovino around (not that he ever regretted offering the merman to join him) - How could the ship actually continue on its journey? Antonio knew that sooner or later he needed to get the ship going at its fullest, he just needed to know what Lovino would do. Surely the only way for him to keep up was to swim alongside the ship. But what if he got tired? He'd need a place to rest, but Antonio couldn't just bring him onboard. Maybe he'd discuss this with Gilbert and Francis during breakfast. Roderich could have some suggestions too, considering he was a real smart guy. Eric could also be of some help; he proved to be quite the creative one at times. Antonio got out of his bed to the beautiful skies outside his captain's cabin's window.<p>

The pirate captain grabbed his coat and, still in his thin white shirt and trousers he wore to sleep, left his bedroom. On usual occasions he would have stayed inside for a while more, maybe just lay in the bed or even staring out to the blue sea through his window. He did no such thing today, and just made his way to the deck. Lovino was already awake, as usual, and was lazing around on the water's surface staring up towards the morning sky.

"Morning Lovi!" Antonio shouted downwards, a goofy lopsided grin plastered on his face.

"Morning." Lovino grumbled back, in an oddly grouchy mood considering it was so early in the morning.

"Aw, don't be so grumpy in the morning! It'll ruin your whole day!" Antonio shouted back and started heading back inwards, "Anyways, I'm going to go get some breakfast." He finished, smiling triumphantly. Lovino was always hungry for tomatoes, and whenever the pirate brought up anything food-related, the merman would call for one. However, when Lovino didn't respond, Antonio started to grow worried. Did he do something wrong already?

"Lovi?" He asked gently after making his way back to the deck, looking over to see the merman, who acted as if nothing had happened. Lying there, staring at the clouds as they slowly moved across the sky, feeling the breeze gently move across the ocean, absorbing the soft heat from the Sun – basically anything but answering Antonio. It was like the merman hadn't even heard him. "Lovi!" Antonio tried again, sounding a bit more desperate than he would have wanted.

Lovino's head moved slightly as he turned to face the pirate, as if acknowledging his presence. Still, without saying anything, he just continued to stare, only this time at Antonio. Frowning, Antonio was getting more and more worried (as well as nervous) about what happened to Lovino. There didn't seem to be anything wrong the night before when he left to bed. So what happened?

"Don't you want a tomato Lovi?" Antonio asked, rather timidly, as he looked over worriedly at his merman friend.

"Go away…" Came the reply – short, straight to the point and very, _very_ cold. Lovino himself couldn't really think of a very good reason why he was being cold to Antonio, cause he was very sure the pirate had only done good things for him. It was his grandfather, _it always was_, that had brought along the problems. Sometimes it was things he prevented, maybe words he said, could be actions he had done… Though in this case, it was more like something he hadn't done. Lovino could slap himself for just the thought of being saddened by such an idea.

Okay, so he was feeling underappreciated that _no one_ at all had come to look for him. Yes, the ship had moved, but it wasn't that far away from home. Well, it could take a good day or two of non-stop swimming. Considering it was their prince, heir to the throne nonetheless, that had gone, shouldn't _anyone_ be alarmed?

"There's something wrong, isn't there?" The sudden voice that could have came from nobody else but Antonio disrupted Lovino's thoughts. For some odd reason, the tone he was using made the lump in his chest grow. Why does the only person who actually cared about him, besides his idiotic brother, was this _human_?

"Yeah. Just give me some time, 'kay?" The merman responded, trying his best to sound as rude and proud as he usually did. It didn't have that ring to it, but Antonio figured that if he needed time alone, then it should be important. So with a short goodbye, he left.

Making his way indoors, to what they used as a dining room, Antonio heaved a sigh. Today sure seemed like it was going downwards. There was still hope though - maybe someone had a solution to his problem. Antonio really needed to get the ship going. He needed it to in order for it to reach the northern seas in time. He needed to cross paths with a particular group of pirates who hung around there. How could he just wait around after that Chinese merchant had passed on a message from them? Especially when the message said that they had _information_. That, he really needed. Antonio's life depended on it. Literally.

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><p><strong>AN:** Right, hope this wasn't too much of a drag! ):  
>And just a note. For those who may have missed the edit from the earlier chapter, I've promoted dear Gil from a first mate to the quartermaster.<br>Thanks everyone for the support, please leave me any comment at all in a review!


	5. Chapter 4

**Treasures of the Sea**

_**Chapter Three**_

**A/N:** Ah! I am so so so sorry I didn't upload this chapter sooner! I had totally forgotten I had exams last week... (Yeah, that means I didn't study for it at all...) So anyways, I just finished this yesterday and today. So yeah. Yay? Thanks for all the lovely review and story alerts I got, too! Please continue to support! (:

**Disclaimer: **Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya

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><p>"Like someone as awesome as me can lose to someone as unawesome you!"<p>

"Bring it on, I could beat you with a frying pan."

"For one as young and beautiful as yourself, you sure are bold~"

"First you hit on girls, and now guys. Please have some decency…"

All these meaningless chatter passed through Antonio's ears as he slowly munched on his breakfast. It was a good thing that Francis had volunteered to cook the meals for a while, as almost the whole ship was getting sick on the constant "awesome" German food they got. Considering they were on a ship in the middle of the big, blue sea, they didn't really have much of a choice since there was no one else who offered to cook. Big brother Francis (as he loves to call himself) finally snapped and offered to cook some French cuisine, which was gladly accepted by everyone (but the then-current albino chef, of course). It was a bit odd at first when the crew saw they were served croissants, but soon grew used to it. Antonio bit into his rolled up bread slowly, for a once in a while "thinking session". Problems were problems, and they'd stay that way 'till solved. Thus it was better to finish them off sooner than later.

"Hey, guys. You think there's a way to bring Lovi onboard without hurting him?"

The table of five looked surprised by the captain's sudden question, while Antonio was chewing his food with his mouth open and grinning idiotically in his usual manner. It always made him look crazy, and maybe he actually was, deep down, but Antonio found that it always helped brighten the mood… or at least him. Well, at least one would know that the captain was still himself as long as that silly smile was plastered on his face. In this case, it just meant that his brain couldn't handle the weight of his current deep thoughts – thus he had to find solutions from his comrades.

"A way to get Lovi to rest? Or maybe just a way to get him to follow us while we set the ship on full sail?" Antonio asked again after a moment of silence, the others slightly surprised to be put on the spot for such a random question.

"Where are we going in such a rush, Antonio?" Roderich asked, finding his question a tad more important than his captain's. He wasn't trying to be rude, cunning or anything of the sort; in fact he had quite a straight face. You'd have to know him pretty well to see the mild curiosity play in his eyes. Antonio looked dramatically hurt on how he was addressed by his name instead of his rank _yet again_, but chose not to say anything about it.

"Well, to the North! But we need to stop off a nearby port first, gotta find something for Tino…" Antonio trailed off, his brows furrowing at the thought of yet another problem arising. Now he was supposed to not only somehow get up north in time, he had to get the captain a _gift_. Though considering what the true goal of the trip was, this 'gift' could be taken as something more like an 'exchange'.

"Might I suggest we drop by this particular town around there then? I heard that this certain merchant is going to drop by there." Francis suggested - trying to help his distressed little adopted brother. Or maybe he had his own motives to go there, who knew.

"And that merchant is awesome because…?"

"It seems he has quite the collection when it comes to rare items," Francis continued, "At a good price too, so I heard."

"How can we trust some man-whore like yourself? You most likely just got it from some slut you spent a night with on our last landing." Eric spoke up, not trusting the Frenchman one bit.

"She may not have the best of professions, but I trust that her information to be accurate."

"So you've slept with her several times before…" Roderich mumbled, as he was displeased at how his shipmate could have wasted so much money.

"That is besides the point… Anyways, would you like to give this place a try? It's on the way up north, so I see no problem with direction." Francis said, redirecting the conversation back - Antonio considering the offer slowly. Head rested on his knuckles as he continued to furrow his eyebrows and heave a gentle sigh; his bright green orbs weren't really focused on anything – giving him the affect of contemplating. It felt like he was actually thinking it through, but knowing him the pirate captain most likely had trailed off to some other topics. Surprisingly, it couldn't have been that far off as he glanced up back to the crew around his table with his trademark smile.

"Sounds great! We just need a way to get there quick without… you know, leaving Lovi behind!" He said, accepting the idea of that mysterious merchant and bringing up the main problem he faced: Lovino. The Spaniard would never even think of Lovino as a bother, rather it was more like a challenge at current moment. There was a slight pause as everyone started thinking.

"Let's just tie him with a rope! It'll be awesome!" Gilbert exclaimed. And then he went on to explain different ways of how they could tie him. There were quite a few ways, so it seems, but most sounded like a load of crap to everyone else. "We could tie around his waist, his wrists… maybe even his tail! Then we - "

"No way!" Antonio butted in. "That sounds like some sort of sadistic torture for him!" The crew laughed, as they knew that the albino was one to like these types of things. Antonio remained disturbed by the idea, but let it slide. After some jokes around the table, everyone went back to getting ideas for Lovino.

"I suggest we give him one of the empty beer barrels we have and let him rest in it." Roderich spoke up, breaking their momentarily silence. It seemed like a good idea, especially since they had quite a few of those. Those things took up space, sparring one for Lovino wouldn't be that bad.

"How is a merman his size supposed to be coiled up in a barrel? Have you _seen_ how long his tail is when Antonio first brought him on deck?" Eric countered, worried for his friend's comfort.

"Mm… True I guess. Then I guess something larger…" Roderich agreed. The group fell back in to silence, now taking in the new information they had to consider.

"How about the row-boat?" Eric said, slightly higher in volume and pitch, excited since this idea sounded like the best they could ever get for now. After some discussion, it was decided that that was truly their best option.

* * *

><p>"Are you calling me fat?"<p>

"How does weight have anything to do with this, Lovi?"

"You are assuming I can't follow this god damned _ship_ of yours just because I, a _merman _for fuck's sake, wouldn't be able to keep up!"

"That's not it! I just wanted to make sure you could rest! We can't just stop halfway and - "

It was just after the ship's exquisite lunch of croque-madame sandwiches. It was really different from anything Antonio had tasted. Francis said he had made it with some leftover bacon from yesterday's lunch, which meant he didn't even have to use any more fresh meat. It made the crew's mouth water. It lifted Antonio's mood and gave him quite the amount of confidence needed to tell Lovino of his great plans of moving North, and how he'd need the merman to get on the boat so the ship wouldn't get any hold back. Which leads to the conversation of current time.

"And how would getting me this boat help, bastard?" Lovino continued shouting upwards to the Spaniard on deck.

"Well, you could just rest on it while the ship sails!" Antonio replied in his usual glee, not fazed by the swearing that he had gotten used to.

"So you're just going to leave me in the middle of the ocean, _lost_ and _abandoned_ by some bloody, motherfucking _human_?"

"Of course not!" Antonio exclaimed, his body language immediately changing to show that he was appalled by such an idea. With all his coaxing abilities, the pirate did his best to explain the idea (though since it was such a simple concept, there was barely anything to explain) and persuade his merman friend that he was not trying to offend in any way. Besides, to be able to relate all of this to Lovino being fat was _ridiculous_! Antonio couldn't even to begin to start on how wrong that was. Mainly cause his brain hadn't really gotten much time to dwell on it, though.

Lovino, after some persuasion from one end and annoyed considering from the other, agreed to the idea. It seemed like maybe, just maybe, it could work out. Heck, he'd get to laze around and sleep without worries of not being able to find the ship when he woke up. Compared to how much he would have told otherwise, Lovino was actually really happy with being able to follow the ship around. If he one day woke up and found the ship nowhere in sight, he would end up crying not because he was lost (though that would contribute) but mainly because the crew had abandoned him. The ones who he thought were the only people he could trust as friends, despite not even being of the same species. And these were the thoughts running through Lovino's mind as he laid there, exhausted from almost non-stop swimming almost half a day later.

As soon as the agreement was made, Antonio got everything ready. The little boat he had used to get to Lovino was now thrown over board, only hanging on to the ship by some pieces of steady rope. He told Francis and Gilbert, who in turn got the ship's crew to set sails. So the ship was fully moving, and as the winds blew magnificently, it was sailing with quite some speed. Rather unexpected for Lovino, but he liked it. Instead of using his boat to relax in, though, he figured that trying to race with it seemed a lot more entertaining. And, amazingly, for a few hours, it actually worked. By the time it was dinner, even the energy-filled merman was starting to feel some strains on his overworked muscles. This was actually going to be pretty good for stamina building.

The winds blew gently down at the level he was at, and it provided as a soothing way to relax after his little swim-a-thon earlier that afternoon. In order to keep hydrated, Lovino had made sure to keep some water in the boat by pouring it in before he got on. Well… he thought it was a little but in fact, the boat could have more of less passed for half-sinking. Though Lovino didn't really understand what was wrong with that, or why Eric found it funny. He needed the water!

As he lay in the boat, Lovino thought through the day. What happened? Things were rather blurred and rushed that day; it barely made sense to him. All that he knew was that he now had this boat to rest on as the waters sped past underneath him. The merman figured that there was most likely a reason as to why Antonio needed him on the boat. He thought through and recalled the pirate captain mentioning something about speed.

The sun was setting at the horizon, and Lovino got a really nice view of it, if he sat to his right. The sun sets on the west, or so Roderich had once told him, and since he had to turn right to see the sunset… they were heading north? Lovino wondered what adventures laid in front of the crew, silently wishing for something big to happen. Maybe some treasure, some magical potion… Love? Lovino mentally slapped himself for even letting his mind wonder to such a pussy topic. Just at that moment, a call came from above.

"Lovi!" Antonio shouted from the deck, "Tomatoes?" He asked, holding one up in the air to show the merman in case he wasn't heard. Lovino turned around to look at the pirate. The sudden question surprised Lovino, but soon he realized that just by the sight of the tomato that he was really hungry. And pretty tired too, as he hadn't actually taken a siesta during the day.

Rather than answering Antonio, Lovino settled with sticking his hand out. At this Antonio's smile grew, becoming impossibly wider than how it already was, and he threw one of those juicy red fruits for the merman. With ease, most likely from much practice from the past days, Lovino caught the tomato. Together the duo talked, just like they would any other day. When Antonio had finished talking about some random topic, Lovino decided to ask the pirate the question he had been wondering for a long time.

"So… Roderich had taught me a while back some stuff," The merman started, wondering if it was going to be okay to ask the question. Well, he didn't want to be a disturbance, plus it wasn't like he wanted the pirate to know that he was really interested in knowing. And that would make him look like he was some nosy prick. Lovino opened his mouth to continue when Antonio interrupted him. _Why do I care for such a dimwitted pirate again?_

"You did Lovi? What did you learn? Roddy's real smart, I bet he thought you something real cool!" He commented, full of enthusiasm, as he urged for the merman to continue. Lovino sighed at Antonio's almost annoyingly optimistic-self (_Oh wait, it is annoying_.) and began.

"Well, he taught me about that direction thing… North, South, East and West?" He started, feeling rather awkward. When the pirate said nothing, expecting more, Lovino continued. "So he said that the Sun rises in the East, right? And that it sets in the West?"

"Yeap, correct…" Antonio interjected, nodding and patiently listening listen to Lovino. Well, as patiently as he could. "What else did he teach you, Lovi?" He asked, his smile never leaving his face.

"Hold on, hold on. Stop nagging like my grandfather," Lovino said, getting irritated by his overly eager attitude. "So anyways, since I know that, I kind of figured that the ship was heading to the North." He paused to see any reaction from Antonio, though all he got was an impressed smile, "So why are we going north?" He asked. Maybe there wasn't any big deal with these things; he had a tendency of making mountains out of molehills from time to time.

The only reaction Lovino got from the pirate on the decks was a surprised expression, and then it reverted back to its cheerful, gleeful… overwhelming usual self.

"Well, I've got some business to do there, so of course I should head there!" He stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hey, not like I knew that!" Lovino shouted back, insulted.

"Aw, Lovi, you're so cute! Don't worry, nobody's blaming you for anything!" Antonio told him, his enthusiastic tone never fading. "But before we meet with my friends up north, we've got to stop by this town Francis talked about. He said there's this real good merchant willing to sell valuables at a good price!"

"Oh, and there's totally nothing wrong with trusting that French pervert right?" Lovino asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes and crossing his hands over his chest. Antonio laughed loudly at the comment and was about to defend his Boatswain when Lovino spoke again. "Anyways, I'm really tired. I'm going to sleep now, kay?" He told Antonio, a small yawn escaping his mouth as he slumped deep into the boat. He heard Antonio wish him goodnight and walk off, his fancy boots making audible clicking sounds as he left.

The subtle sound of the crashing waves and the light rocking of the boat sent Lovino to almost instant sleep as soon as he relaxed.

* * *

><p>It hadn't seemed like it, but soon almost another week passed. The ship had continued heading north, though somewhere along the line it changed to a minute northwest… it was still very north either way. For the past hours, Lovino could see some little dots along the horizon. They were small, and the afternoon sun disrupted his vision, so he gave it no thought. When Roderich shouted, "Land ahoy!" about an hour later, Lovino realized this must have been the town Antonio had talked about.<p>

By the next day, Lovino could see the land clearly. There were several ships up ahead, and he felt slightly intimidated being on his small boat (not that he would ever admit it). There was some sort of port there too, and he saw that many ships were gathered there. Men were loading and unloading crates of items in and out of their ship. Some of the people looked ferocious, like they were going to bite your head off, while others looked neat and well kept. They all were similar in one way though, Lovino noticed. They all wore almost the same clothes! Thin white shirt with long sleeves, some rolled it up though, and dark colored trousers. He couldn't see any details, but Lovino was pretty sure they didn't have any accessories.

"Err, Lovi?" Antonio's voice was heard. He was near the end of the ship, looking out at the boat where Lovino was supposed to be. In fact, Lovino was in front of the ship, off to the side a bit, and was staring at the scene in front of him – the port full of pirates minding their own business doing whatever it was they needed to do. When Lovino still didn't reply after a few calls (He was lazy, dimwit! Where did you get the idea that he liked it when Antonio was calling out for him like that?) Antonio started walking to the front. Lovino could hear the clicking of his boots, but still made no move to do anything.

"Lovi? Lovino?" He was starting to sound worried. The merman pondered whether he should show himself, to save the pirate from killing his neurons, but decided against it. It was rather amusing, somehow.

"What's wrong, 'Tonio?" Eric's voice was suddenly heard, catching the attention of both Antonio and Lovino. "Where's Lovino?" He asked.

"I don't know! If I knew, I wouldn't be here calling out to the ocean, right?" He shot back, worried. Maybe Lovino really was taking this a bit far…

"Lovino! Come out!" Eric tried calling out. Unlike his captain, the younger boy's voice was much more calm, not the least bit worried. After awhile, they called out again. Why was Lovino doing this again? He didn't remember, but knows he felt bad. Was it some sort of hobby of his to make people get frustrated over him? Antonio and Eric didn't sound very angered or anything, but they were most probably just hiding it or something. Suddenly, he heard Antonio.

"Do you think he left us?" Came the whimper. Lovino's eyes shot wide open in shock. Why the _fuck_ would he ever do something like that?

"Oi! Stop making such a ruckus. I'm trying to have a siesta!" He shouted suddenly to the duo up above on deck, feeling annoyed that they were discussing something like him leaving.

"Lovi? Lovi?" Antonio asked loudly, trying to locate where his voice was.

"I'm here damn it!" Lovino shouted again, louder than before so that the pirate captain could find him.

"Lovino? LOVI!" Antonio screamed, suddenly turning from really worried to overjoyed. And his usual childishly energized excitement went all the way up by three hundred percent. "Ahh, Lovi!" He shouted, running towards the other end of the deck, where he found his merman friend. It was as if this over-the-top happiness he got from finding Lovino had left him able to only say the merman's name.

"_Mi_ _tomate_!" Antonio shouted, finally finding Lovino. And before anyone could register it, the pirate captain jumped down, off the edge and into the ocean waters – his arms spread wide and his open-mouth smile almost taking over half of his face. Lovino didn't have any time at all to prepare for the attack when he felt the sudden impactof a bone-crushing hug engulfing him and pushing him back into the water.

After Antonio had finished suffocating Lovino, he allowed himself to get dragged up by Eric, who had gotten a tied rope and sent it down for the captain. Lovino swore loudly (something about cursing Antonio for being born) when the latter was reluctant to leave the water. He mumbled something about catching a cold, but he hoped nobody heard it once it was out. It was rather random, not thought well through, and felt like a bad idea. Thankfully to him, neither Antonio nor Eric heard him.

Once he was up, Eric left to get Antonio a towel. Lovino stared up, scrutinizing every detail of the pirate he could see. Why? Oh, he just felt like it, of course. Who were you to tell him what to do? Unless of course, you were the victim, in this case Antonio.

"Lovi? Is there something wrong?" Antonio asked, curious to the other's stare. Most people, Lovino noted, would have felt either very awkward or very insulted by having another person stare you down to the last detail. This… this _airhead_ in front of him… couldn't read atmospheres and situations at all, that was for sure.

"So why were you looking for me?" Lovino asked. He wasn't really thinking about it, but now that he had asked, the merman grew curious. Just then, Eric showed up with a towel in his hands and handed it over to Antonio.

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed this. We're near the port. Plus you're a merman. And ports are filled with other people." He said, smiling childishly, leaning on the sides of the ship and looking intently at Lovino. The merman, in turn, didn't actually see what the big problem was.

"Yeah, so?" He asked, waiting impatiently. He cocked an eyebrow and continued looking at Antonio. Eric had chosen to stay and had a curious look on his face as well.

"What're you gonna do to Lovino, 'Tonio?" The cabin boy raised his question.

"Well! You see, Lovi, besides my crew, there are other people out there. Not everyone knows of mermen. So this is kinda like a secret…" He said enthusiastically, grinning.

"I realized, dumbass. I mean what are you going to do about that?"

"Hmm… I was thinking… Well, I personally think that you don't have much of a choice for this. It's for your safety, so just go along with it, kay?" Antonio replied.

* * *

><p>"You want me to <em>what<em>?" Lovino whispered loudly. They were at the port; Antonio and his crew already left the ship. The bad touch trio was surrounding one particular area, Roderich and Eric standing around to make sure no unwanted eyes travelled too far.

"Just get in the barrel!" Francis whispered back in a demanding tone.

"It'll be an awesome experience! Not everybody has the time to get in a barrel, you know!" Gilbert joined in, hoping to get the merman in as soon as possible.

"Oh, why don't you try getting stuffed into a barrel then, you good-for-nothing potato eater!" Lovino shot back, pissed.

"Please, Lovi, it won't take that long! We just need to get some stuff and head back!" Antonio tried, pleading with the merman, "I'll even stay with you on the ship for the night! Just do this during the day! It's not safe!"

"Argh, that's it!" Gilbert said snapping. He pulled Antonio and Francis to face him and gave them a devilish smirk. The other two gave one back in return, though Lovino couldn't see it as their backs were to him.

"Lovi, could you come here for a bit. Please?" Antonio whimpered slightly, getting onto his knees. He sat down and looked at Lovino, and it was that look in his eyes that made Lovino's body move without him actually wanting to.

"What?' He asked, arrogant and dignified as ever, before the barrel was abruptly shoved over his head. With the power of one big swishing movement, Francis and Gilbert managed to get Lovino in the barrel while Antonio had quickly moved aside.

"What. The. Fuck? Get me the hell out of here now you motherfucking bastards! I'm fucking warning you, by the time I get my darn hands on your shitty necks, you'd better fucki-"

_Booff_! Before his yells could be heard, and mistaken as kidnapping (though considering being surrounded by pirates made this nothing unusual), the trio stuck the lid of the barrel on top. Lovino huffed, pissed and annoyed. He wasn't even in a comfortable position! Though considering the size of the barrel and the length of his tail, it would be rather hard to find any way to relax in there. For now, his head was right at the bottom, his bum sticking out on the opening side, and his tail flowing freely anywhere it could reach. It was a painful position, his neck was surely going to get cramped, but figured that he wouldn't be heard if he made any more noise.

So with that he allowed, whomever it was who did, to carry him to wherever it was he had business to do.

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><p><strong>AN:** Well, hope you enjoyed! It was rather... unplanned for actually. Sorry if there were mistakes. Please review with your comments and opinions, thanks! And I promise to update by next week! *faints


	6. Chapter 5

**_Treasures of the Sea_**

**A/N:** Whoop, typed this as fast as I could! Thanks for the reviews, and hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer:** Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Five<strong>_

No matter how hard he tried to stay still, the bouncy walk of whoever carrying him kept making Lovino get hit, banged, knocked… basically abused pretty badly in that barrel. He huffed out a sigh and bit his lip, just as his head made contact with the barrel walls yet again. This was going too far. Who said he couldn't take care of himself if he was back in the ocean?

Lovino could hear many different voices – some shouting, talking, whispering, giggling, yelling, maybe even screaming. It sounded like some sort of marketplace (yes, there were those horrible places down under the sea) and being inside the barrel, the merman bet that he was only listening to half of the true volume of his surroundings. Off in the distance, Lovino could hear a voice that sounded familiar.

"Go on ahead then, Francis!" Antonio suddenly shouted while somehow moving the barrel in such a way that made Lovino got hit _over and over again_. Shocked by the sudden surprise, Lovino couldn't help but curse at Antonio, who was undoubtedly the one carrying him.

"You motherfuking _bastardo! _Get me out of here!" Lovino hissed, his head colliding yet again. The unexpected noise from behind him made Antonio jolt, stopping whatever it was he was doing. He continued walking on and whispered softly back to Lovino.

"Uncute, Lovi." He had said, the tone of his voice sounding a little more annoyed than the usual energized Spaniard in which Lovino had gotten used to.

"I'm not here to look cute, dumbass" Lovino mumbled, sinking as deep as he could into the barrel, blushing deeply. Where did this attitude Antonio was putting up coming from? Of all things he had retorted, he called Lovino "uncute". That wasn't even a word from what he could tell! "Just… walk a bit less… bouncy, kay? Please?" Lovino pleaded softly, face deepening in color, "I keep getting my head hit and my water's seeping out a bit…" He continued, his sounds only barely audible to the pirate captain.

"Really? Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know that!" Antonio suddenly said, slightly louder than needed, sounding genuinely surprised and worried. Though knowing the Spaniard, he most likely was.

For the rest of their journey, Lovino and Antonio decided against raising conversation. Lovino was concentrating on not getting as many bruises as he could, while Antonio was weaving his way through the crowd around the town. He avoided doing actions with his hands such as waving at people, as it was this action that had made the barrel he carried shake a lot. To ease his pain, Antonio had bought some sort of fishnet that, despite being rather cheap, was very strong. He used it to wrap around the barrel and as leverage to sling it over his shoulder. Even though he was wearing leather gloves on both hands, he could feel the weight of both the barrel and the merman weighing down on his hands. Some bruises were to be expected for him as well.

Antonio was walking along the main street; people were buzzing around, most likely going for their lunch. The pirate captain kept a steady pace as he found his way to the deepest part of the town. It was full of people, shops and yelling merchants. Walking became a bit more of a hassle since he had to avoid bumping into people as often as possible. Lovino was sure to complain a lot when they get back on the ship, and while Antonio may seem rather oblivious at times, he was definitely not dense enough to know what was going to happen. He was a pirate after all.

Making a swift turn to the right, Antonio made his way into an alleyway. It was noticeably quieter, the noise only coming from the market he passed. At least his memory was good, as the Spaniard had remembered the exact words of Francis when he was giving the directions.

"_Take the second left, it should be the one with a crate right next to it."_

One… two lefts… and a crate. Antonio took the turn and continued walking on. It leaded to a forked road, and chose the right, which was rather tighter than the other two.

"_Take the right, be careful, and keep walking straight. After a fifteen-minute walk, you should get a turn to your left. On the right of that, there is a short wall. Take some crates and use it to climb over it. Straight onwards. Don't get mistaken as a client, just to be on the safe side."_

He did as told. After climbing the crates and got up the wall, he found himself on the rooftop of some building. It was rather thin concrete and, because of that, Antonio figured he was getting deeper into the real town's life. Well, there could only be one reason how Francis had known about this place. Looking down the streets below, he saw groups of ladies flirting and tending to men. They giggled and laughed, Antonio frowning in disapproval. Though of course it wasn't like his job was any more legal than theirs, but at least he could chose what he did. They had to entertain men, no matter who it was, especially if they wanted some lunch.

As Antonio walked on, he could hear the different types of people below him. Some were working on drugs while some were entertaining others… he was half expecting to hear about some illegal slave offers. He wondered what was Lovino thinking inside the barrel, but brushed it off and decided to focus on where to find this merchant Francis spoke of.

"_Just walk straight all they way. At the end of the rooftop, there'd be some stairs. Use it to climb downwards."_

The pitiful pirate captain could only use one of his hands to climb down the frail looking piece of metal, the other hand holding onto a really pissed off 'Lovino-in-a-bucket'. It was quite the struggle, especially if you don't want a really pissed of Italian merman at the end of the day. After making his way down the miraculously long stairs, Antonio felt his boots touch the slightly damp stone road. A group of ladies from across the street started eyeing him and giggling to themselves, waving for him to join them. Feeling rather awkward ("Now is _not_ the time… sorry!"), he slowly shook his head sideways and waved his free hand in front of him to further show he wasn't interested. One lady raised her eyebrow at him and whispered something to another. The others must have heard as well, cause they soon erupted out into wild laughter. Antonio stared at them for a moment before he was dismissed by one of them with a thumbs-up.

Scrunching his face in a very odd way, Antonio continued his way to wherever the merchant was. Why the heck would someone do business in this part of town? Right, illegal items prospered here… but still. Now those bunch of ladies most likely thought he was gay or something.

Not that he was a homophobic, no! The pirate captain was a very open man, he accepted many different people. The idea of him being a homosexual though…

"_Walk around a bit, have some fun. Once you stumble upon a tall building with five floors and four windows each, two chimneys and a very well-off tavern on the first floor, you know you're at the right place." _

Gee, like he was here for some sort of field trip. He might as well get a good bite from the tavern though. So, maybe this merchant was also in there? Antonio remembered his name was… Vasch. Vasch Zwingli. He could just ask around, sure someone would know who he was. After a five-minute walk, Antonio found the tavern. It was slightly past lunchtime, but there was still a considerable crowd there. Antonio wondered what he should do with Lovino, who was starting to become _very_ heavy. The Spaniard chose the closest free table and sat, placing the barrel next to his feet. He ordered some beer and a plate of tomatoes, earning a confused look on the waitress' face. He smiled it off and shooed the lady away, saying that he was real hungry. The lady smiled back and went off to get the fruits.

Antonio observed his surroundings. The walls were dark, giving the room a shady effect due to lack of sunlight. The people in there were either talking in a hushed tone, most likely about some unlawful plan to rule the world, or singing and laughing – carefree and drunk. How people could start getting high at such a time was beyond Antonio, and he hoped that the merchant was not one of those people.

"Beer and tomatoes, sir?"

Antonio looked up to see a different waitress. She was much smaller in size, and seemed really young.

"Thank you!" He replied in his usual cheer, accepting the bowl full of large, plump tomatoes as well as the large mug full of the translucent amber-copper ale. Just as the waitress was about to leave, Antonio got an idea (one of the best he's ever had in quite a while, too!)

"Excuse me, miss, but would you so happen to know of any merchants here?" The Spaniard asked, hoping that she would help him. The waitress turned around abruptly to face the pirate; her medium golden blonde above-shoulder-length locks swishing across her face. She had a hand in her hair, trying to smoothen it out, before she replied.

"Well, there are many merchants who come by here. Is there anyone in particular you are looking for?" She asked in her soft, gentle voice.

"I see. Have you heard of any going by the name of Vasch Zwingli?" Antonio asked her.

"Ah? You want to see Vasch? I don't think he's very keen on business at the moment…" She replied quickly, shocked the man knew the merchant.

"So you know him? I have good offers, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Would you please show me to him?"

"I'm sorry, sir. He doesn't accept any bargains right now."

"How do you know?" Antonio asked, the question springing form his mind before he could even register that it could have sounded rude. Thankfully, the lady didn't seem to mind at all.

"Vasch is my older brother." She said quietly, with a small smile and blush forming. Antonio was taken aback from this sudden announcement, and took some time to think it through.

"Could you please, please, _please_ take me to your brother then?" He pleaded, a friendly smile on his face. The girl looked at him and sighed. There was no stopping a pirate from getting his treasure, that was for sure.

"Okay fine. I'll lead the way once you're done with your meal." She said hesitantly, yet still returning his smile with one of her own. With that, the waitress left Antonio and his barrel, which was mysteriously quiet throughout the whole conversation.

"You alive, Lovi?" Antonio asked softly, but still playfully, to the merman in the barrel. "Keep quiet, kay? I'm gonna give you a tomato." He continued, opening the barrel slowly. He looked around in case anyone was looking, found that nobody was paying any special to him, and opened the lid slightly more. Inside, he saw the cutest sleeping face he ever saw. "Aww!" Antonio couldn't help but coo, his eyes growing larger and his smile widening so much that it made his face look like rubber.

* * *

><p>Lovino was sick and tired from mumbling and cursing at Antonio. He did not join the bloody pirate just so he could get shoved in a barrel to be constantly hit on the head. The merman couldn't tell when exactly he had managed to fall asleep (especially not since he was inside the fucking barrel). But he did realize that by the time he woke up, however, that he was in a very different place. Instead of the noisy background he heard when he fell asleep, Lovino barely heard anything when he awoke.<p>

_Sniff, sniff._

Lovino opened his eyes wider and, while trying to rub his eyes as well as move to a more comfortable position, almost knocked the barrel over from within. "What the fuck are you doing, Antonio?" He called out, suddenly getting into a really foul mood. The pirate better have a good reason for waking him up. Why the _heck_, of all things, was he god damned _sniffing_ the barrel?

And then the sniffing restarted. What the hell was that darn bastard doing? Really? Was he so bored that sniffing the barrel was his only option?

"Oi! Just let me out of here already!" Lovino shouted again. He could hear his voice being caved up in the barrel. He tried to move again, but to no avail. The merman felt his wrists were numb from being entangled almost everywhere, his neck was hurt as it had been bent forward for what felt like centuries, his lower back was aching from having to bend in an unnatural position to fit inside the barrel, and his orange-red tail was cramped above him. The pale, coral orange-tinted translucent fins of his tail seemed much more see-through than usual, excluding the little blood vessels that was spread throughout it. Lovino had a pretty good view of it too, especially since it had no choice but to flaunt itself all over his face.

"Damn that pirate and all his crew…" Lovino cursed softly, starting to give up on the fact that he was going to get out soon. If anything, he'll just run out of oxygen and die down there. Or maybe starve. The water was feeling rather cold, too. From experience, Lovino knew he could start getting chilled if he didn't get to move soon. "I bet you didn't think of that, huh, Antonio?" He whispered softly, not expecting anyone to hear, either way. Nothing could be heard from the outside, and Lovino felt almost certain that he was abandoned. Not like this was his first time or anything. He'd live through it. Maybe some helpful human would help him out and put him back to sea. Or it could be some money-driven psychopath who was going to –

"Eh? What are you doing there?"

The voice suddenly appeared, cutting short Lovino's self-pity scheme. Lovino craned his neck to where the vice came from. It sure sounded like Antonio… but what the heck did he mean why was he there?

"You fucking left me here, damn it!" Lovino shouted back in response, his self-pitiful state recycled to become fuel for his inner rage.

"Lovi? You're awake?" The Spaniard said gleefully, using that _horrible_ nickname he always did. Well, that made sure that he really was the damned pirate.

"Of course I'm awake! Who do you think you're motherfucking talking to?" Lovino yelled, getting very irritated. Antonio was the one who started the conversation; he should at least have a little respect! Lovino tried turning over yet again (his back really was going to kill him!) and again he failed. He grunted and tried using his tail to kick open the lid of the barrel.

"Get me out of here, Antonio!" He complained, almost whining. From outside, Antonio could hear the movements that Lovino was making. The pirate looked up at the purple sky and figured that nobody would come and see them. They were outside a house, Vasch's house to be exact. Over the past few hours, he had discussed and bargained for a good gift.

Now, Antonio was just about to leave the tall, two-storey building. It had an antique feel to it, with its old age and fading colored walls. Even the small wooden fence surrounding what little garden space he had looked rather aged. The grass was much longer than needed, reaching all the way up to his knees. How could someone live here was beyond him, but the pirate thought against raising the question. Business was what he was there for, nothing more nothing less.

After looking through multitudes of antiquities and machinery he barely even knew had existed, Antonio had decided upon an axe. It was very long and tall, just as tall as Antonio in fact, and had the most beautiful carvings along the length of it. Even the iron axe itself was carved on its blunt side, giving some sort of feel to it. Antonio could just imagine how much hard work it must have been to work on the minute yet overwhelming details of the design. The wood of the axe was rather lightweight, and though the iron was heavy, it was sturdy and proved to be one of the finest.

Yet despite its already extravagant beauty, Vasch said that it would need some final touches done. Thus, the two promised to meet back at the tavern for lunch the next day to collect the promised shares. For such a priceless piece of historic artwork, Antonio was willing to part with almost twice he paid for his own axe. His was plain, sturdy and strong. It was heavier than the one he would give as a present, but even then it was considered to be really light.

_Woof. _

Right, back to the problem at hand. Antonio was on his way to get Lovino (who had been left alone in an alley near the house) and bring him back to the ship. That is, until he got obstructed.

_Woof_.

"Come one, buddy, go away. This is my treasure!" He said jokingly, trying to by pass the cute, small, fluffy _puppy_ that was in front of him. It barked and barked at him, running back and forth from the barrel to Antonio, as if trying to protect Lovino. Well, for some odd reason, it was doing a really good job at it. The dog was small in size, even for a puppy, and was as white as some of the seashells he had passed upon in his younger days. In fact, this dog was just plain white, the only other color coming from its black pearl eyes and wet nose, as well as the pink of its tongue when it opened its mouth to bark.

"W-What …the fuck is that?" Antonio could hear Lovino ask hesitantly, most likely frightened by the sound. Right, how could Antonio forget? Lovino would have never even heard of a dog before! And now he most likely thought it was some beast trying to eat him… or something along those lines.

"Err… You wouldn't so happen to know what a dog is… would you Lovi?" Antonio asked, wondering how he should handle this situation. It sure seemed like this dog was keen on making sure Antonio got anywhere near Lovino. Just as expected, when Antonio tried yet again to get to the barrel, the dog barked. Really, Antonio found it so cute that it would protect Lovino like that, but he seriously needed to get back on the ship. And as how he predicted, Lovino answered him with a negative response.

"What's that?" He asked, growing worried.

"Trust me, they're cute adorable, fluffy beasts who like to play all day and eat whatever is on your plate. Right now, there's one that is intent on making the distance between you and me rather permanent…" He said, chuckling lightly in hop to calm the merman. "Would you mind staying there for awhile? I'll try to lure it away with some food…" Antonio said, devising a plan concerning food.

"I-I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" Lovino grunted, holding back his tears of fear. This was one of those things Lovino truly hated about himself, the fact that he gets scared _way_ too easily. That and he cried quite a fair bit too. All the time, it wasn't like there was anyone who would wholly spend his or her time trying to comfort him – no, only Veneziano had that sort of privilege. And yet one would expect all those lonely years to harden him, but no it didn't. It just made him worse.

"Don't worry, Lovi. I'll be back soon, kay?' Antonio's voice interrupted Lovino's thoughts, comforting him. With that, Lovino could hear the faint footsteps of Antonio's boots leaving the scene. At first, there was only silence; only the faint moving of water could be heard. Then came back the sniffing. So whatever it was that was sniffing the barrel was what Antonio described as "cute", "adorable" and "fluffy". So maybe it couldn't be that harmful. But the bastard did call it a "beast"… Caution would be a good practice.

"O-Oi… You dog out there… What the fuck do you want from me?" He asked. There came no reply, but only an increasing amount of sniffing. Lovino sighed and gave up, slumping back down into a position that was as comfortable as he could get. All he could do was wait, so it seemed.

Luckily he didn't have to wait that long, for about five minutes later, he heard rushed footsteps back.

"Here boy! You want some?" Antonio shouted, Lovino figured, to this dog thing that was guarding him.

Antonio threw the lump of beef he had gotten – it didn't matter how he did, though – and the dog ran for it. The meat landed on the other side of the alley Lovino's barrel was in, and the dog quickly had it between its teeth.

"Aha!" Antonio screamed in accomplishment, running for the barrel, getting out the net and carrying the barrel. "Beat that, dog!" He shouted back at the dog, before turning on his heels and breeze walking off.

"See, Lovi? Nothing to worry about!" He told Lovino, turning his head to over his shoulder to face the barrel. The cobblestone clicked under his boots, creating a nice beat as he walked. "I saved you from the terrible beast, didn't I Lo-"

And suddenly a shrill howl was heard, interrupting the pirate. You would think some ferocious pirate would have had a good chance at scaring away the dog, but looks like even dogs don't respect the poor, under-appreciated captain.

"Damn, gonna run, Lovi!" He said quickly, running as fast as his legs could take him back to his ship. It felt as if even Lovino's weight had magically disappeared.

* * *

><p>"You were running away from this adorable little beast?" Lovino asked Antonio, smirking up at the Spaniard.<p>

"It was chasing us!" Antonio countered, in an almost-whiny tone. "Besides, you were the one who was scared, weren't you?" He continued, raising an eyebrow and returning the merman's smirk.

"Ouch! Hey, be careful!" Antonio suddenly exclaimed, his cool demeanor shattering.

Lovino and Antonio were back inside the ship, in the cabin to be exact. Although it took awhile for the merman to get used to it, the place actually felt very homely. Almost everything was made of wood, proven when he got into Antonio's captain cabin. The ceiling was covered with light honey-colored wood; the flooring was a darker shade of sepia brown. There was a bed, with what seemed like a light fluffy quilt and two very comfortable looking pillows. Two bedside tables rested on either side of the bed, a glass lamp lit by fire placed on each. There was a wooden study table full of what looked like papers and maps scattered across it, and it was situated to the side of the room, opposite of the doorway. Next to it, giving a good view for anyone on the bed, was a large window. It scaled from the ceiling to the floor, providing a full look of the outside. Other stuff decorated the room, but they weren't of much importance…

For now Lovino's barrel was placed next to the bed, whereas Antonio was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the merman.

"O-ouch! Hey! I carried you with my own bare hands! Being gentle would be very much appreciated." Antonio said, looking down at his was finally out from that horrible position in the barrel. Instead his upper half was out, leaning over to as close to Antonio as he could.

"Just shut up and face it like a man!" Lovino shouted, giving one last tug. He looked down at his handiwork. "Be happy I'm done already!" He commented with a scowl, releasing Antonio's hands from his grip.

Antonio had had a really long day. To think that Lovino had volunteered (ever so shyly) to help bandage the Spaniard's hands was really nice at first. But it had hurt so much (Lovino was trying as best as he could to be gentle, he really was!) that it felt more like an ordeal to Antonio. The pirate lowered his back onto the bed and exhaled his breath that he hadn't known he was holding. Just as he closed his eyes, a wet nose came and sniffed his hair. "Hey, that tickles!" Antonio said, giggling as he tried to swat the white fur ball away. When it did leave, Antonio opened his eyes curiously to see where it went.

The dog ran to the edge of the bed and started scratching the barrel Lovino was in. With one swift motion, the merman picked up the dog and cuddled it. The dog got lightly damp from Lovino, who was still dripping, but ignored it and snuggled up to him.

"Goodnight, you beast." Lovino whispered to it before letting it go back on the bed. The dog crawled up to one of Antonio's pillows and almost instantly went to sleep.

"Aren't you two just like a mummy and child?" Antonio squealed. Lovino was just so cute!

"Shut your hole, you're just jealous." Lovino retorted, very obviously insulted. "I'm gonna sleep now, _bastardo_." Lovino continued, slipping back into the barrel. His tail flipped out, resting on the edge of the barrel and slightly wetting the floor. The pirate ignored it and wished Lovino goodnight before tucking himself under the bed sheets, the dog moving to sleep above his head. A very faint goodnight could be heard, but Antonio wondered if that was just an imagination.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thanks for reading! I must say that I personally wasn't too pleased with this chapter, but thanks for reading it anyways.

Please review! They make my day and help me type faster! (:


	7. Chapter 6

**_Treasures of the Sea_**

**Disclaimer:** Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Six<strong>_

Clear blue skies with fluffy white clouds greeted Antonio when he woke up. Not like he had one of the most graceful awakenings, though.

He was having a rather nice dream; he was a matador saving this _really_ beautiful person from the bull. In fact, Antonio had made the bull (which was tan, with strongly built muscles and… very, _very_ sharp horns) change its direction of focus. The new target was he himself, and Antonio remembered dodging the bull pretty well. Whoever that person is, he couldn't remember due to the rude awakening he got, he or she has got to be really important for him to do something like that. He could feel that that person meant quite a bit to him. 'Cause when you're dreaming: everything makes sense, you never try to question the surroundings, and you just know things. This was one of those times where the Spaniard just knew that this guy he was saving (Antonio was pretty sure it was a guy after some thinking through) was really someone close to him. Someone special.

Anyways, it was just at that moment when the Antonio could not dodge the bull anymore – when the bull was running straight at him, intention to rip the Spaniard apart alive very clear with its extreme set of horns – when Antonio felt the crushing jolt on his stomach.

His eyes shot open immediately, just in time to see a white fluffy blotch jumping off his abdomen to the edge of the bed. And for a moment, his eyes landed on the beautiful scenery projected by the vast windows. It made him temporarily forget his dream. Then he laid his eyes on another interesting view: Lovino rubbing the dog's tummy. Well, it was an intriguing sight. How often would you get to see that usually vulgar, rough merman so calm and serene? Lovino's face was peaceful to look at – the light smile on his face, along with that tranquil happiness in his eyes giving Antonio the impression. The merman's hands were gently stroking the white pup, which had turned over to expose its belly as soon as it reached the edge of the bed closest to Lovino.

Just the next moment, however, it seemed like every little detail he had absorbed disappeared. Lovino looked up at Antonio, making eye contact, an immediately started yelling.

"Oi, you _bastardo_! Why the hell did you sleep so much?" The randomly enraged merman started, his green eyes suddenly flared. Was it worry? Fear? Pain? Anxiety? Loneliness? Antonio couldn't tell. It was just a quick flash before the merman heaved an exaggerated sigh and continued ranting, his voice dropping slightly in volume thus that it was now like loud chatter.

"Argh, do you know how long I've been waiting for you? It felt like days have passed and you were just snoring away!"

"Hey! I don't snore when I sleep!"

"How the heck would you know? You're asleep."

Antonio felt his eye twitch at the thought of snoring in his sleep. The idea of him snoring never passed through his brain (though Lovino would counter on the actual presence of a brain) and the idea wasn't really what he would like. So… if he snored in his sleep, does that meant he slept with his mouth open? And didn't people only snore when they had sleeping problems? Oh crap, what if some mysterious fly one fine day ventured down his-

"Oh come on. Don't kill any more brain cells. It could actually be dangerous for you." Lovino said, sighing and laying inside the barrel in a comfortable position. As comfortable as he could get anyways… at least the lid was open.

"So you actually _do_ care about me!" Antonio shot back, getting up and dashing that short distance across the king sized bed towards the merman, aiming for a hug. Lovino, who hadn't seen the man launching himself at him, was caught a hundred-percent off guard. The pirate came crashing on the merman, so much so that he even knocked down the barrel.

"Ch-chigi!" Lovino screamed, just as the barrel fell over its side. The water, the merman, and the pirate fell smack on the floor. The water of the deep barrel spread itself almost to half the room –in fact maybe over, due to the slight rocking of the ship. Over at the side of the bed, the barrel lay, rolling to its sides – left, right, left, right- according to the gentle movements of the ship. Above it, quite a distance away too, laid Antonio, and a knocked-out merman below him. It took awhile for Antonio to actually start moving again, for he was thinking something along the lines of, "What did he say?" with his eyes opening wide in confusion. It was foreign to him… maybe merman language?

At that thought, Antonio miraculously remembered said merman below him… Or rather right in front of him, since he fell face forward in his attempt of hugging Lovino in a barrel. The pirate tried getting up, using his hands to lift his body upwards, but the slick surface of the water proved to get the better of him. In his failed attempt to get up, Antonio slipped and crashed back on top of Lovino.

Lovino didn't move an inch, much to Antonio's surprise. He was very sure the merman was going to jolt awake and start screaming. Worried, Antonio got up, much more carefully this time, and picked up the merman as if carrying him over the threshold, and cautiously stepped over to the bed. Checking to see if the merman had awoken at all ("Nope, still out cold like a piece of wood!") Antonio placed him on the bed. Well, there goes a dry bed. The pirate captain didn't mind though, Lovino was a precious person to him, and the bed would dry up eventually. His face softened when he took a good look at the unconscious merman in front of him. That was when the merman turned around in his sleep and faced the other side of the bed, revealing a bruised back.

Shock contorted on the pirate's face, wondering how the merman would get such marks. But then again, he could just ask him when he woke up. For now, the pirate turned to face the messed up room. His floor was wet and the wood would start soaking up the water if he didn't do something about it. And with that thought on mind, Antonio left to get a mop and clean up his room.

It was the first time in ages Antonio ever had the need to do troublesome chores like this, but at least he could still do it satisfactorily. Surely someone like Eric would be able to mop much better than him, especially if they had to do it everyday. All Antonio could care about, however, was the bruises on Lovino's back.

Before Lovino opened his eyes, he noticed that instead of the cramped feeling of the barrel, he was laid on top of something soft and fluffy. It was really comfortable, and the heat his body gave out was being circulated around him because of that wonderful material. For a second Lovino wondered if he was dreaming, cause all he remembered from earlier was total darkness. Then he thought that maybe he was dead, but he couldn't remember what had happened for him to die. Just then, he felt pressure pulling down whatever material it was he was lying on, and the sudden gravitational pull made the merman's eyes jerk open.

The first thing to catch his eye, mainly cause it was right in front of him, was Antonio's back. The merman never really took notice before this, but it was broad and yet… slender at the same time. He could see the pirate's muscular-but-thin frame. And he could tell that for some odd reason, by the way his shoulders were arched outwards, and his hands placed behind him for support, that the pirate captain was exhausted. That and the deep breaths Antonio was taking in, making his whole body move up and down to the rhythm for each breath he took.

"You okay, bastard?" Lovino asked coolly. That wasn't how he was supposed to say it; he had wanted to be more worried, caring… lovi- Oh great, what was he thinking now? The pirate in front of him jumped slightly from Lovino's sudden voice, but turned around to face the merman anyways. Antonio's face was sweating, and he looked really tired, but he did make an effort to grin like the true idiot he was.

"I'm good. Are you hurt?" Antonio asked, the smile never fading from his face. "I hope I didn't hurt you when we were hugging earlier…" He continued, his voice getting constantly softer due to guilt. He remembered those bruises on Lovino's back. Did he do those? No way… right?

"Well, I don't feel any bones out of place, I should be fine." Lovino answered, his mouth forming his signature perpetual frown. An awkward silence followed, Antonio worrying over how to bring up the bruises on the merman's back while Lovino was really just too sleepy to start anything. Breathing in an air of determination, Antonio decided to just ask about it. It couldn't go really bad, he figured.

"So what's with those bruises you've got on your back?"

"What bruises?" Lovino questioned, shooting him a suspicious look as his hand trailed behind him to touch his back. "O-ouch!" He screeched, the sudden pressure on his back shocking him. "What the fuck did you _do_ to me?" The merman demanded, an anger-stricken look appearing on his face. Yet you could see that there was pain, and he converted whatever pain energy he felt to an anger boost.

"Aww, does it hurt that bad, Lovi?" Antonio asked, his smile turning rather motherly. Lovino's eye twitched, the image in front of him was giving him some bad ideas…

"Yes, yes it does. What the hell are you going to do about it, fucker?" Lovino asked, rage still audible in his voice.

"Well, why don't you let me have a look at it and I'll tell you what I can do?" Antonio replied, smiling broadly. He made a move to go closer to Lovino, when the merman quickly turned around to face the other way.

"G-go away!" He whimpered. This was like a nightmare come true. Lovino had always hated it when he got special treatments and attentions if they were for the _wrong_ reason. Like now: Antonio was just being nice to him (creepily nice, might he add) just because he was injured. If things were to go down like they were now, Lovino would have rather not gotten involved with the pirate at all. _Wait… that sounds like I'm having an affair… _The merman mentally slapped himself, and re-focused on the situation at hand.

Antonio had a clear view of Lovino's back, forgotten by the merman. The pirate chuckled to himself. "And to think you're supposedly trying to _hide_ your back?" He said, though it very much sounded like a suggestion. Before Lovino could answer, he felt Antonio's fingers on top of the skin of his back. It was rough, most likely from all the hard labor a pirate's life brought along, yet it was gentle. "Does it hurt, Lovi?" Antonio asked soothingly, a calm smile on his face.

"Yeah, a little…" The merman replied, blushing by the contact they were making. Well, he would admit that that was barely anything, but it still made his heart skip a beat. And he didn't even know why.

"Why don't you try sitting up?" Antonio asked, tenderly placing his hands on Lovino's sides, lifting him up. Instinctively, the merman bended his tail to the left that give him a sort of feminine stereotypical-mermaid sitting-on-rock position. Antonio crossed his legs and sat closer to the merman, examining his back. Lovino kept quiet the whole time, not making a move to interrupt the inspection at all. And suddenly, he felt something other than Antonio's hands on his back. It was soft, and really featherweight. Or rather made him feel that way. A split second later, the merman realized what had happened.

"O-oi! What the fuck you doing?" He shouted, ignoring the fact that Antonio was just behind him. The merman turned around to face the pirate.

"I'm kissing you!" Antonio replied, locking eyes with the merman and grinning extensively. "It'll heal faster like this!" He continued chirpily.

"W-w-what? Don't say such ridiculous things!" Lovino stuttered, blushing madly and turning to face away from Antonio. He did _not_ need that damned pirate to see his face like this. "Besides, this is all your fault!"

"Eh? My fault? What did I do?" Antonio asked, childishly frowning.

"Who exactly was it that shove me in that accursed barrel for almost the whole day yesterday?"

"Hey! You think you were light? I've got some bruises on my hands too for carrying you around, you know!" Antonio rebutted. "And it was all for your safety, too, okay? I just wanted to make sure you were safe the whole time." Antonio continued, smiling warmly, ignorant to the amount of awkwardness this was placing on Lovino. So it was either this pirate was either really trying to embarrass him on purpose, or he was just really, really, _really_ bad at reading atmospheres and situations. Well, even the merman found the answer was pretty obvious.

"I know Lovi!" Antonio announced, an idea suddenly springing to his mind. "How about you kiss my hands to help them get better soon too?"

_Punch_.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry for being late, Vasch." Antonio apologized, greeting the shorter merchant with a simple handshake. "I've been having a slight stomach ache, as if someone punched me, and it made walking here with this barrel really hard." The pirate explained, recalling how the merman had punched his stomach earlier when he voiced the idea. Well, maybe some things had their side effects, but Antonio was always one to try and live with minimal regret. So he was just going to have to ignore the throbbing pain of the somehow everlasting impact of Lovino's fist on his unprepared stomach. Pirate or not, anything unexpected was sure to hurt.<p>

"No problem. I hope your stomach ache would heal soon." Vasch responded, his voice stoic and emotionless. "It wouldn't so happen to be caused by some food you ate here yesterday, would it?" The merchant asked, starting small talk. Though at least his voice did change to at least sound concerned, but not that much.

"Ah, no no no, it certainly was not from the food here. Everything here is lovely!" Antonio said, smiling gratefully for the concern from the merchant.

"I doubt it would be. You only had tomatoes yesterday!" Another voice said, coming from behind Antonio to next to him and Vasch. It was Lili, the waitress who had served him yesterday. He only knew that from a slip of the tongue from Vasch yesterday and, since they say they were related, Antonio figured that her last name was Zwingli as well. The pirate looked up at the waitress and smiled at her. When she asked if they would like to order, Vasch dismissed her with a wave of his hand and a small smile on his face.

"No, its okay. We're just meeting here." Vasch said, looking back at his client, "I'm sure Antonio here would like to go straight to business." The merchant continued, to which the pirate nodded in agreement. "We shall be off, back to the house." He said, though Antonio wasn't sure if he was telling him or his sister, as he had started looking around suspiciously, as if expecting some sort of ninja to come flying out.

"Okay then. And don't worry so much, Vasch. I'm going to be meeting up with an old friend of mine, so you don't have to worry. Remember Elizaveta?" The young girl said with a smile.

"Oh, Elizaveta?" Vasch said, looking mildly shocked as his eyes widened ever so slightly and his eyebrows raised barely a millimeter. The merchant stood up, followed by Antonio (who stayed quiet, not wanting to disrupt what seemed like their once-in-awhile sibling bonding time), before continuing. "I remember her. She went away to sea, right?" He asked, recalling the girl he spoke of. "Anyways, we have to get going now." The merchant told his sister, looking at Antonio to check if his client was ready to leave.

"Ah… We're going back to your place? Okay then!" Antonio said, smiling widely and picking up the barrel using the nets around it. His hands still burned from yesterday, the bandages were still there too, and the feeling of the net between his pitiful fingers didn't help anything. Noticing the slight grimace on the pirate's face when he picked up the barrel, Lili spoke up.

"Er… Mister…" She started, not really knowing how to address him. "If you don't mind, I would love to help take care of that barrel for you." She said, smiling at him. "It looks painful, having to carry that the whole way." The waitress added. Looking at her, Antonio did not hide his shocked face at her offer. How could someone he just met be so nice? It was like God had seen his troubles yesterday and answered his prayers or something!

"You'd really do that?" He said, astonished. Without even waiting for a reply, the pirate placed the barrel down (though he did dismiss a string of soft cursing he heard from the merman within the barrel). "Thanks so much!" Antonio said gratefully. And without a second thought, he followed Vasch out of the tavern.

* * *

><p><em>That bastard…<em>

Lovino, scrunched back into the miserable barrel, was thinking that maybe he could get some tomatoes, when he overheard their conversation.

_How dare he…_

So, abandoned in the barrel yet again, he started silently fuming over how the darn bastard actually left him there, wherever "there" was, again. Only of course, this time he was not alone. From what he heard, he even had a babysitter who didn't even know he was in there.

Lovino considered knocking the barrel, making it sound accidental, and get caught. Then, maybe he could at least get some tomatoes. Maybe. Though of course he didn't exactly know who it was out there. From inside the barrel, Lovino could hear that wherever he was, it wasn't packed with people, though he could hear some soft chatter in the background. Above him, where it should have been Antonio, was a delicate humming tune – which was most definitely from a female.

_Fucking hell I'm just going to – _

And before the very enraged merman could even finish his trail of thought, the woman outside suddenly squealed in delight. So, if Lovino remembered correctly, she was supposedly meeting with someone? Whoever that was must have magically appeared then.

"Oh my god, Elizaveta, is that you?"

"The one and only!"

Followed by another squeal, with some quick footsteps heard. She must have run to this Elizaveta person.

"We have to talk. Here, have a seat." Lovino heard from above him, as well as a something being moved on the wooden flooring.

* * *

><p>Outside of the barrel, Lily was really excited to finally meet Elizaveta. They had been the best of friends ever since they were young, but (just like in all those fairytales they had been told as bedtime stories) fate had to be an ass and pulled them apart.<p>

"What happened to you all these years? Did you really become a pirate?" Lily, the petite waitress asked, eyeing her friend's… interesting choice of clothing. The waitress was wearing her usual long flowing maroon dress that, though slightly faded, was her favorite. It reached until her knees, which was covered by long white stockings and completed with a pair of leather ankle boots. Above that, she wore a typical white apron, with small frills along the sides and ends. Plus, despite her hair being short, she made sure to tie a cute little purple ribbon on the right side of her bob. The best word to describe her attire: feminine. As for this Elizaveta friend of hers… she would be the total opposite of Lili.

Long brunette hair had been tied up in a messy ponytail, typical for just anyone regardless man or woman. From the looks of it, she most likely hadn't even combed it out thoroughly, for whatever reason Lili couldn't imagine. To the waitress, image was very important. Not that she was vain or anything such, but at least she made sure to look like a decent girl. Elizaveta, from her general appearance, couldn't care less. In fact she looked a lot like some scoundrel who just won some sort of treasure. Not in the way where that scoundrel would spend on buying more… better looking clothes, but more on that exact moment when he's found the treasure. You know, that time when he's all dirty from hard work and digging in the sand, where his shirt is almost half torn without bother due to the heat, his pants rolled up messily, shoes old and torn, plus he's real sweaty too… yeah that one. And just like that scoundrel, Elizaveta couldn't care less, as long as she made it through the day.

The shirt Elizaveta wore was white, nearly translucent (not fitting for a woman; and Lili could tell that she had wrapped her chest with some bandages, after scrutinizing that particular area long enough), and crumpled all over. The sleeves looked the worst, as it got even more and more translucent getting down her arm towards the ends where it reached her wrists. Not that it became that way for design; you could tell that the material really wasn't the best in the market. There was a piece of white cloth tied over the collar of her shirt, styled such that it could have passed as a ribbon – long, messy and without much effort, either. Why she even bothered with it was beyond anyone. Her dark almost black trousers, thank God, looked rather comfortable. It reached just below her knee, where it was then stuffed untidily into her long red-stringed black leather boots. To complete her look, she had a long red piece of cloth tied around where her shirt and pants met in a sort of waistband. It was just a personal opinion, but her friend looked a lot more manly than some people she'd seen in the tavern.

"Did I become a pirate?" Elizaveta repeated Lili's earlier question, raising an eyebrow. "Why… yeah! Of course I did!" She answered giddily, laughing at her childhood friend's shocked expression.

"Y-You're not serious are you?" Lili asked hesitantly, though she pretty much knew what the answer was going to be. "It's so dangerous, what would your mother think?"

At the mention of her mother, Elizaveta's laughing ceased. She froze and stared directly into Lili's eyes. Her face was neither angry, nor sad. It was… pitiful.

"Hmm, I wonder what mummy would think, too." She said. She half smiled and looked away, deciding that they shouldn't dwell on the topic for too long. They were supposed to be happy about their reunion, not remember their pasts. "So how's life? Is that Vasch still an over-protective stick in the ass?" Elizaveta asked, suddenly reverting back to her cheerful self.

Lili took this as her way of saying, "Let's stop talking about this" and continued on with chatting with her long-lost friend.

"Excuse me? Don't talk like that about Vasch! He's always been so kind to me!" Lili said, her soft voice raised slightly. "Nothing's changed with us here. How's life as… a pirate…?" Lili asked, rather hesitantly. She had always doubted Elizaveta of being a pirate. But not much could explain why the lady in front of her, the person who was her best friend, from not keeping in contact. That and the getup she had on. Not that Lili was obsessed over how unladylike her friend was, but… couldn't female pirates dress less tackily?

"Life's… pretty good actually." Elizaveta started, a warm smile creeping on her face. "After changing crew a couple of times, I landed with this really nice Captain. Maybe you've heard of Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, Captain of the Night's Deceit?" She asked, turning to face her friend as well as take a drink of the water that she hadn't realized was there until then.

"Hmm… Sounds familiar… Oh! I know! Was it the one which had taken down that Russian ship a while back?" Lili said, somehow managing to remember an old newspaper article she read some time ago.

"Oh wow, that was quite a while ago… but yes that's us!" The pirate responded, grinning happily.

"Wait, you're serious?" Lili exclaimed in disbelief. That ship… it was said to hold quite the crew; with a couple of the best swordsmen, gunners and of course, a _really_ good leader, it was growing to be one of the most sought after by the Navy. And that was what Lili informed Elizaveta, in case her constant time away from land had made it such that she didn't even know the reputation of her crew.

"One of the most sought after?" The female pirate repeated, cocking an eyebrow and had a wide lop-sided grin plastered on her face. "That's great news! We should celebrate!"

The waitress returned the other girl's joy with a shocked expression. She then started lecturing her friend on the importance of safety and other related matters. She sounded like a soft, caring mother who was trying to convince her spoilt child to start doing house chores. So of course, it had no effect.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Elizaveta said, slightly laughing at Lili's over-protective nature. The pirate figured she had adapted it form her brother, who could be almost ten times worse. "Besides, it's not like I get discriminated there. Everyone welcomed me, and I have good friends." Elizaveta continued on, thinking about her group of friends.

"Really now? So they don't mind getting along with a lady?" Lili asked, shocked by that. Most men couldn't help but think lowly of women, especially if you weren't of noble blood.

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Elizaveta struggled to answer immediately. "E-eh? Well… yeah! Of course they don't mind. Why would they?" She asked back, picking up and making it seem more natural. Lili wasn't dense, though, and knew something was up. The waitress eyed her friend down, thinking of what it could be. And almost as soon as she did, it struck her.

"They don't know you're a girl, do they?"

Elizaveta sighed and thought for a moment of how she should handle the situation, and decided to expose a secret she's kept for a while... only to Lili of course.

"So what do they call you?" Lili inquired, her interested pulled in by the twist in her childhood friend's life.

"Eric."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm so sorry for not updating in such a long time! It's just that even before the last chapter, life's been throwing lots of shit straight at me. And my teachers keep giving courseworks which take up loads of time. I just finished my history movie my group did today! Meaning we took like... 1.5 months. Screw all my shit.

Oh right! Sorry bout that... If anyone read that, it's just to explain my situation. Well, the work hasn't been lessened or anything (it just keeps piling up), but I managed to take some time every weekend to write a bit in this story. All my work had also lead to me to a writer's block, as I am constantly worried about all my shit.

So please forgive for making you guys had to wait for so long! And to give such a crappy chapter as well...  
>But still, please continue to support! Thank you to everyone who has, even though I hadn't updated in ages.<p> 


	8. Chapter 7

**_Treasures of the Sea_**

**A/N:** Oh my God, I'm so sorry for not updating in ages. If you wanted, I could write three paragraphs as to why I didn't. Please forgive my tardiness. I had, in fact, three-quarter a mind to just scrap this story. Thanks to Scarlett Daydreamer (I hope I got that right OTL) for randomly PMing me one day, telling me to keep my story going. It was really motivating to me. Thank you to all of you as well, those who've stuck around since this story's started and the new readers... reading this...

**Disclaimer:** Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>_

Lovino figured that if he were to be taken care of by some human girl who doesn't even realize his presence, he might as well get to know her. And what better way would there be rather than to listen in their conversation? No, the merman would strongly disagree to anyone raising their hands saying that he was feeling lonely and wanted company. He does, however, acknowledge that he was rather bored and needed something to fill time.

He was actually only paying half his mind to their conversation, but perked up when he heard that that person was a pirate. And he did even more so when he heard Antonio's name. The chances of other pirate captains going by the same name and having named their vessels the exact same thing were just impossible. Inclined to finding out whom this mysterious person was, Lovino leaned to the side and closed his ear as close as he could onto the barrel's walls. But because of the unfortunate position he was in (which was extremely uncomfortable as well) Lovino could only get his ear to about three inches away from the side of the barrel where he could hear the loudest. Struggling to get even closer, his mind wandered off to trying to match the voice to a face. He couldn't remember anyone by the name of Elizaveta, or did he recall there ever being a female onboard.

And that was when he started getting his attention back onto the conversation.  
>"-at do they call you?"<p>

"Eric."

Lovino's eyes widened. That couldn't be right. Eric was a guy, definitely male. Without thinking, Lovino gave a push closer to the barrel (for what reason who could barely remember), and it caused the barrel to fall to its side. Of course, the last bit was very much unintentional. Who would want to expose they were hiding in a barrel by _rolling_ it when it wasn't touched at _all_?

"E-eh? Chigi!" Lovino screamed instinctively, his voice resounding inside the barrel. To his dismay, the very obvious sound was projected out of the barrel and straight to the two women who were sitting just next to him.

"W-Woah!"

"Wait, what?"

Lovino couldn't really tell who it was who screamed what, but he couldn't really care less. What mattered at that point was that he had blown his cover. Whatever kind of cover 'hiding-inside-a-barrel-and-pretending-you're-not-there' is.

* * *

><p>"You're kidding me, he actually did all of these to you?"<p>

"Exactly how I felt."

Well, looks like fate wasn't that bad. Somehow or the other, Lovino found himself having a face-to-face conversation with Elizaveta and Lili. It was weird, how everything had played out. It was too quick for him to register much, but his current situation turned to be something _very_ much unexpected. The girls had somehow dragged (or was it rolled?) the barrel into some sort of room. They had opened the barrel, and the first thing Lovino saw was a screeching young blonde with short hair, and a very shocked Eric-look alike. And that was exactly the first thing he had said.

_"Eric?" The merman asked, his eyes widening in confusion. The merman could see the one he had addressed twitch, opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to speak. But this Eric was a guy, and Lovino wouldn't believe that he'd been a girl cross-dressing for ages._

_"Please don't tell me you've heard all of that?' The brown haired pirate asked Lovino, momentarily forgetting the waitress next to him. Lili was shocked, to suddenly see a real life merman. Well they weren't even thought to have existed; nobody could blame her. She looked at Lovino with wide eyes, staring at him and wondering what was happening. Then, it seemed, she managed to get in the fact that her friend was even having a conversation with the sea creature._

_"E-Elizaveta… What's that?" She asked, slightly shaky voiced due to her not knowing just exactly how she was supposed to act. But Lovino heard what she had said clearly, and she had addressed Eric as 'Elizaveta'. That was definitely a female's name, no matter how he looked at it. So what he had heard earlier was true._

_"That, Lili," Eric started, "Is my friend Lovino." He continued, talking slowly and taking his time to choose his words wisely. There were so many things running through his mind. Firstly, there was Lili, who had now found out that there was a merman in the barrel she had been taking care of. Then there was the fact that Lovino had been in the barrel, listening to their whole conversation, meaning he knew his secret. Or should he have said "her secret"? It had been ages since anyone had ever called Eric a she, excluding Lili as she knew her identity since young. And then… and then… Even Eric didn't understand what else was happening. So somehow, they talked it out._

* * *

><p>The room they were in was rather small, being a small square perfect for just the necessary things one would need for a short break. There was a small window on the wall right from the door's, which was on the far left corner. Below the window, which was placed almost directly in the middle of the wall, was a small single bed, it's frame made of what looked like very cheap wood and it's sheets made of second-hand cotton. Opposite that was a dressing table with a single chair, both looking old from age. The only source of light was either from that single window ( which didn't really provide much), or the single candle on it's holder on the space of the wall which was between the door's and the window's. Overall, it wasn't that bad a room, despite being way too cramped, considering it wasn't made for anyone to live in. Only really drunk customers who couldn't be trusted to be able to go home alone safely, sick customers or workers who could use some rest, or anyone who would need some shuteye.<p>

Lovino, who had asked for a more comfortable position, was allowed and helped out of the barrel. As instructed by Lili, the merman was placed on the bed. The waitress pulled the chair from the dressing table and sat between the merman on the bed and Elizaveta, who had taken to a seat on the dressing table itself.

"Aren't you in pain from being in that barrel the whole day?"

"Why of course I am."

Despite the previous misunderstandings, and after almost an hour spent on explaining to both merman and waitress, Elizaveta found herself having a peaceful conversation with both of them. In contrast to their extremely shocked expressions they had earlier, the two seemed to have become quick friends, much to the pirate's amazement. Elizaveta allowed the two to continue their conversation, as it had become easier for them to understand the situation by asking each other (rather than expecting Elizaveta to be able to handle answering both of their bombarding questions). So both Lovino and Lili took their turns asking and answering questions.

"Then why are you in there?" Lili continued asking, her face contorting to express the worry she felt for the merman. "And why can't you get out?"

"Beats me, I was forced in here." Lovino answered. His mouth slightly bended downwards on one side, forming childish frown. "_Nobody_ would ever want to be stuck in here, trust me."

"Ah, I think I should answer that then." Elizaveta spoke up, deciding to answer since Lovino couldn't. She returned both Lili and Lovino's interested gaze with a lopsided grin. "Well, you see," He paused, looking at the merman for a moment, just to make sure he was listening, " unlike how we normally sail when at sea, there are other ships here. There are people here. That's dangerous for you. Just imagine what could happen if one of those barbarians saw you. They'd capture you, chop you into pieces and then sell your parts for three thousand gold each." She explained, her face becoming more serious as fit.

"Then why don't he just stay at the bottom of the sea for the two whole days that you guys are here? Maybe even three days just to be safe!" Lili asked her childhood friend. It was a logical method for him to just stay under there, rather than kill his whole body being suck in a barrel.

"Heh... I wonder if I can even stay underwater that long anymore..." Lovino said softly, pouting. He hadn't really thought about it, but his ability to keep hold of his oxygen was even lower than that of what it was like before he joined Antonio on his journey. It really sucked, to think that he was becoming more and more dependant on breathing air from above the water. That would mean that it was less likely for him to ever be able to return to what would be considered a "normal" merman, which was to be able to live underwater for several weeks.

"Oh, don't worry too much about it," Elizabeta said, walking over to the bed and taking a seat next to Lovino, who was lying on his stomach and using his elbows to push his body up in order to face the two. The pirate patted his back, trying to comfort the down looking merman. "So what time do you think the guys would be done?" Elizaveta asked Lili, turning to face the waitress, while Lovino continued to silently mope.

"Eh? Oh, Brother said that they just needed to discuss minor things like a suitable price and all that, so I don't think they would take very long." Lili answered, unconsciously looking up as she tried to recall what her brother had said to her the night before when she had asked him a similar question. "They'd most likely be done soon, I belie-"

"LOVI!"

They froze, staring at the door and just imagining what was all the commotion about. A strangely familiar voice was heard screaming from outside. It was then followed by a huge ruckus (such as plates crashing and tables being flipped) every time the name was called. It was almost needless to say who was the cause of everything, as he soon barged in to the room, puffing and sweating, like a crazy fish out of water which desperately needed its moisture. Or rather desperately "looking" for it. Dumbstruck, the three in the room said nothing, made no sort of sound; staying perfectly still, as if their joints were threatened to break apart as soon as they moved a single muscle.

"LOVI?" Antonio shouted as soon as he opened the door, not even bothering to register where he was. In fact, he was ready to start tossing everything in that cramped room out if that was what he needed to do to find his-

"LOVI!" The pirate screamed in shock, abandoning his plan of terrorizing the room into a toxic wasteland and dashed towards the merman faster than a cheetah outrunning a bullet... if that was even possible. "Lovi!" He shouted, volume decreasing to a regular raised voice, as he gave the merman one of those bone-crushing hugs people would usually avoid for safety purposes. "What are you doing in here? I've been searching the whole tavern for you!" He said, releasing the blue, suffocating merman from his grasps. When Lovino started panting and gasping for air, instead of answering the Spaniard's question, Antonio pouted and furrowed his eyebrows.

Noticing the ridiculous expression on Antonio's face, Lovino cocked an eyebrow and shouted back at him.

"What do you mean? Y_ou're_ the one who stuffed me in that fucked-up barrel!" Lovino countered the man in front of him, quickly recovering from the near-death experience he had faced moments before.

"For the love of _anyone_, could you guys please stop shouting." Came a voice from behind Antonio's back, making him turn around. There, he saw Eric, who was standing by the door which was now closed, arms crossed around his chest. His voice came out smoothly, as if there _wasn't_ two mad idiots screaming at each other in front of him, but his face was as clear as glass in expressing his utmost annoyance he felt right then.

"E-eh? Eric?" Antonio asked, his eyes widening in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He asked his fellow pirate, genuinely curious. Well, since Eric was there, then it meant that Lovino couldn't have been in any sort of trouble. And that was a good thing. Though it did make him wonder what the other pirate was doing there.

"I was visiting a friend." The brunette replied, unlocking his hands from around his chest and using one to point at the waitress, who was next to him. Her eyes were still wide in shock, as her brain wasn't used to so much happening in one day. Recall that she's a waitress and had been living as so her whole mundane life.

"And what is Lovino doing _out_ of the barrel?" Antonio continued, his expression turning to show his displeasure of how the merman was exposed to the waitress. That would more or less defeat the purpose of having him safely tucked away in a barrel, rather than just bringing him in some sort of roller-attached glass box for the whole world to see.

"Both of us didn't know of his presence in the barrel, until he himself pushed it over from the inside." The waitress spoke up, defending her childhood friend. To this, Antonio frowned and addressed her.

"So then I guess you know not to tell bout my Lovi, right? I advice you not to go around telling how you've met a merman and all, unless you want to be silenced eternally." He said, his face showing just how serious he was. The other three in the room looked shocked and angered by his statement and started protesting against the pirate captain altogether.

"And who do you think you are to go bullying young ladies lik-"

"-ho the fuck is _your_ Lovi?"

"Excuse me if I come across as some sort of silly gir-"

"-plus she's a very trustworthy-"

"I belong to nobody, damni-!"

"Just because you're some pirate don't thi-"

"Whoa, whoa! Okay, I get it!" Antonio suddenly interrupted them, his earlier irritability fully vanished and replaced with his usual air-headed self. "Heh. I guess I can trust you then." Antonio said, again addressing Lili, only this time his trademark smile on his face. Antonio knew that if someone like Eric trusted this lady, then there was nothing wrong if he did too. Eric was always wary of his surroundings and the people he was with, so this waitress should be a good person. Plus, she seemed nice. The pirate captain got up, and walked towards her, politely bowed and took her hands and shook them. "Call me Antonio, Captain of the Night's Deceit." He said, introducing himself, remembering that he hadn't done so earlier. "I'm sure you already know about how Eric's one of my crew." He continued, momentarily looking at said pirate when he mentioned him.

Lili was taken aback by the random introduction, and shook his hands back so as not to be rude. "Ah, yes, I've heard of you. Both from Eric and the newspapers." She said, smiling warmly at him. "My name is Lili Zwingli, Vasch's younger sister." She continued, introducing herself in turn. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine." Antonio replied. "Please forgive my earlier impoliteness, as well as now, for I believe Lovino and I would take an early leave. Captain's always gotta be the first to arrive." He continued, taking her hand yet again and giving a small light kiss on to them. "Well, then, goodbye." Antonio said, walking back to the merman on the bed and plopping him back into the barrel (with quite the amount of retaliation, of course). With that, he turned around and walked off, exiting the room. Elizaveta and Lili only had a time for a quick glance to each other before the Captain stuck his head back in, his signature smile still plastered on his face. "Thanks for taking care of Lovi! And Eric, remember to be back by midnight." Antonio quickly said, before finally leaving the tavern for real. Elizaveta and Lili looked at each other again and shrugged, leaving things as they were and continued their conversation from before.

* * *

><p>"Just look at it, Lovi! Isn't it wonderful?" Antonio asked his merman friend, holding up the axe he had bought earlier that day. He noticed the extra polishing and little sharpening Vasch had done to the already very sharp iron axe. It was still as beautiful as he had seen it yesterday, and although he knew that it was of good quality, Antonio knew it would be bad if the gift he had sent was anyhow defected. The Spaniard held and swung it around carefully, monitoring it's weight and balance. He was very much used to his own, but would pretty much switch to this one any day. Though, of course, he couldn't. This was specially bought for a gift.<p>

"What's it for anyway?" Lovino asked from his sitting up position on Antonio's bed, breaking the Captain's train of thought. "Looks dangerous."

"It's meant to be dangerous! It's called an axe, and ever sinc-"

"I _know _what the hell an axe is, dumb ass." Lovino interrupted, making Antonio frown. The Spaniard was so prepared to give such a long, inspiring speech about the history of axes and their wielders, too! "I meant, why the hell did I have to get stuck in a fucking barrel for two whole days just for you to get a motherfucking _axe_?" Lovino asked, not appreciating the beauty of the weapon like how Antonio was. There were axe-wielders back where he was from, but people there preferred spikes and the sort. Besides, the merman was never interested in weapons. As unlikely as it was, Lovino would choose books to swords almost any day.

"Don't worry, Lovi, this axe isn't for me. I got it as a present to give a certain friend of mine." Antonio explained, his over-the-top smile creeping back onto his face with every word he said.

"Who the fuck is Lovi?" The merman retorted, his question sounding more like a statement. "And that's even worse. I wasn't stuck in a barrel for you, but someone else you decided to buy an axe for." The brown-haired merman continued to grumble.

"Aw, you mean you wouldn't have minded being in that barrel if it were for me?" Antonio asked, quickly balancing the axe on to the wall and suddenly dashed towards Lovino. Just inches away from the bed, the pirate jumped and caught Lovino in a tight hug, the second time that day. "That's the cutest thing you've ever said to me, Lovi!" He cooed, ignoring the merman's earlier whining on the nickname.

"G-Get off me, _bastardo_!" Lovino exclaimed, caught totally unaware and unprepared. "I didn't say anything of that sort!" He continued to counter, struggling to get free of the human. Using his tail as a last resort, Lovino managed to bend it way over ninety degrees up in the air and hit Antonio on his head (accompanied by a satisfying 'bump' sound from the contact).

"Ouch!" Antonio shouted in pain, automatically recoiling from the merman he was hugging. Instead, his hands started rubbing the back of his head, trying to find if there was any form of dent on his skull. It was a wonder if he should have been relieved or be angered to find that instead of a horrifying dent, there was a noticeable swell forming. "You're so mean, Lovi." Antonio complained, his tone of voice hurt in reflection to the pain he felt. If it was just something like knocking your head on the window (or something of that sort), then Antonio would have just laughed it off. But this one really hurt!

"It's either you risk getting a dented skull, or I risk suffocation." The merman replied, smoothly brushing off the pirate's complaints. "The chances of you actually getting seriously injured from that wasn't that high anyways. I barely touched you." Lovino continued, frowning at Antonio. Well, Lovino figured that maybe it _did _hurt quite a bit, since the merman was usually used to swimming in the ocean (which was no easy task, mind you). So he _might_ have used a bit _too_ much force for a rather empty skull, but Lovino knew that at least it wasn't fatal. Lovino sighed, his realization of how badly he could have hurt Antonio making him feel bad.

"If you shut up about it, I'll see what I can do to fix it." Lovino said, sitting up properly and spreading his arms wide, seemingly asking for a hug. Lovino looked down on the bed below him, embarrassed. It's not like he was going to apologize to something which Antonio started himself. "Don't think of this as anything funny, you hear?"

Antonio stopped wincing and looked up at Lovino. He was offering him a hug?

"Oh Lovino, you're so nice!" He said, launching himself at the brunette merman. Of course, he made sure not to 'accidentally' squeeze too hard, as he was pretty sure that he did _not_ want any more bumps on his head. "You have your cute moments, you know that Lovi?' He said, which so happened to be into the merman's ear, due to their hugging position.

"Off, you asshole!" Lovino shouted, also into Antonio's ear, and pushed the other male of him.

Suddenly, there was a light scratching sound heard from the door. Both Lovino and Antonio awkwardly stared at the piece of wood, wondering what it could have been, before the latter stood up and opened the door. As soon as he did, a white puffball came running and jumped up onto the bed, to where Lovino was. The dog started licking and turning on it's back to get Lovino rub it's tummy.

"Oh, hello there, dog." Lovino said warmly, shocked, but still very happy to see the adorable creature. A light smile adorned his face as he continuously stroked the fluffy dog. The dog in turn wagged it's tail at such an extreme speed that it could have flew if it wasnt for Lovino keeping it down.

"You're cute, you know. If only you weren't so bipolar" Antonio commented to the merman, closing the door, with his childish smile playing on his lips, when he saw Lovino blush tomato-red back at him. "And don't forget your promise. You said you'd help me patch up my wounds!" The human continued, his smile ever-growing on his face.

"Oi, oi. Don't get ahead of yourself. I only said that I would _see what I can do_."

"That's not fair Lovi!"

"How many times do I need to tell you, my name is Lovino."

"But, Lovi! You promised that you'd take care of it for me! Take responsibility of your actions!" Antonio continued, ignoring the nickname warning yet again.  
>Lovino felt his eyebrows twitch as he gave in, though still not satisfied. "Shut up and come here already, goddammit..." He mumbled, looking begrudgingly at the pirate, who more or less squealed in delight. Lovino looked apologetically at the dog and gently pushed it to the side, making space on the bed for Antonio.<p>

"Thank you, Lovi!"

* * *

><p>By the time it was midnight, most of the crew were already on board the ship. Francis looked happier than ever, Gilbert looked to be half drunk (we must drink to our unification after having separated for so long!), Roderich was happy with a small pile of secondhand products he had bought at less than a third of their original price, and Eric was wrestling to steal and then hide all the drinks he can find from the Albino. As for Antonio, he was sporting a bound of bandages wrapped around his head, covering the top part of his forehead. To cover it, as it would look bad if anyone found out their captain had somehow managed to injure himself on the back of his head during a span of just <em>two days<em>, he wore his hat. Plus it was midnight, the darkness blocking the most obvious parts. Only a face to face conversation would help most to notice the injury.

Now that everyone was back on the ship, Antonio commanded to set sail. They left the port and continued on through the night, making sure to get their direction right. The ship headed North. According to Sailing Master Roderich, they'd most likely be able to get to the northern seas within two weeks if they continued sailing without stop. Which would have been just perfect for Antonio, who was planning on meeting up with Tino there as soon as he could. If it were true that the Fin had news about a certain map that Antonio _needed_, then there was no way the pirate captain was going to pass up an opportunity like this.

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><p><strong>AN:** Yet again, thank you everyone! I know this is way too short and is in fact really boring, but I hope you would continue to follow my story. I know, I'm losing my touch OTL


	9. Chapter 7 (and a half)

**_Treasures of the Sea_**

**A/N:** Should I even start to apologize? I don't know why I have no responsibility, go ahead and kill me for it. This is a little filler I somehow managed to write within two hours plus? It's for the 30 days of winter writing/drawing challenge on tumblr, Day 1 - Sweaters. Or inspired by it? Who knows if I'm even going to follow this thing. Winter just so happens to fit the story, since they're heading north and all... I really hope you guys enjoy this as much as I had writing it!

**Disclaimer:** Hetalia and all the wonderful characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Seven (and a half)<strong>_

"I'm cold" Lovino complained one day, an innocent frown on his face. He himself didn't know why on earth the water was getting colder. It's been around all his years alive, so why would it suddenly start to feel chilly? It had been about a day before he had decided to tell anyone, he himself ashamed.

"You're _cold_?" Elizaveta repeated after him, lifting a worried eyebrow. She knew that heading north was going to drop temperatures quickly, but none of the crew had even started to wear their thick fur and leather coats yet. Elizaveta herself was only wearing her usual off-white, long sleeved shirt and dark brown trousers. Both materials were thinning out from excessive wearing, so it wasn't like they provided much warmth.

"Yeah." Came the solemn reply.

"That's fast."

"That's - wait, what?" Lovino sputtered out, utter confusion evident in his voice. Oh, he definitely heard what she said. Had she _expected_ him to get cold?

"Well, we're heading North. Of course you'd start to feel it sooner or later." She explained herself cooly, not understanding her friend's reaction.

"And exactly what about the North happens to affect me?"

Elizaveta heaved a sigh as she saw the problem. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>Roderich looked out the window of his cabin to see the lazy red orb setting into the distant horizon. The clouds were relatively darker than usual, and were gathering up above in the skies. The crew hadn't faced a storm in quite awhile. The sailing master set down his pen and violin bow as he continued to enjoy the scenery outside. The brown haired man would always welcome the rain; it used to calm him to sleep when he was younger. Violet eyes traced the waters below until he caught sight of something out of place. It was Lovino, the merman which had joined their journey. Roderich did not know much about him, or why the captain had allowed him to join the crew, but he did know that he was great company. Sometimes, Roderich would stroll outside and teach the merman a thing or two about navigating. The Austrian probably wasn't the best with directions, he used to get lost in his <em>own home <em>back when he was a young child, but somehow it was easy for him to find his way on sea. Studying atlas had always been one of his favorite childhood pastimes, rather than playing around and getting into fights.

Deep in thought, Roderich sat down on the tea table beside the small circular window of his cabin. He placed the violin and it's bow back into its casing and looked at the music score he had written. Barely anyone, other than Eric, knew about his passion for music. What would people think, a pirate playing a violin? He'd be the laughing stock of the crew. And he definitely couldn't do that to Antonio, not after what a great help the captain had been throughout the navigator's life.

A flash of lightning struck the ocean somewhere in the distance, and Roderich's eyes quickly landed on Lovino.

"Oh..."

* * *

><p>After a little persuasion, Lovino had been brought out of the ocean and into a cabin. He was shivering cold and soaked, but he had been left alone as Antonio, Roderich and Elizaveta discussed something outside. Before he could shout for at least something to dry himself, an enraged looking Hungarian barged into the room, towel and some clothes in hand.<p>

"Why is he so stupid sometimes?" Elizaveta rhetorically questioned out loud.

Lovino, shocked and surprised by the change of personality in his friend, suddenly felt the need to stay as quiet as possible. The chill running over his skin momentarily stopped, even.

Elizaveta ignored the merman in her room, plopping whatever she held onto the bed and grumbling something to herself. Said merman leaned back slowly in what should be known as his bucket. The wooden barrel, this time, was void of anything other than his cramped tail, strained to be used as a ladder in order to lift his torso. The frighteningly mad woman before him started settling some things on the table opposite him, next to the door. Lovino was too worried to move a muscle, eager to not let any of that anger direct itself to him.

And just as the barrel had betrayed him before, the trusty barrel decided to trip over _god knows what_ and send Lovino hurling backwards. An unintentional yelp escaped his mouth as the shock of falling as he redundantly tried grabbing onto _anything_ to stabilize himself. Of course, nothing was there for his aid, and the merman landed with a crash and a _crack_.

"Oh my goodness!"

Lovino's neck was turned in a horribly agonizing position, but he knew that wasn't what had cracked. A little dazed, he looked up to see Elizaveta on her knees above him, just about to lift him up. The merman felt the numb of his skin travelling along his spin towards his head.

"Lovino! Are you okay?"

* * *

><p>Everything hurt. That was the first thing his body registered as he contracted the muscles on his limbs, testing them out for anything broken. Everything seemed to work. He couldn't feel much, his brain still not registering where he was. He winced as he moved his spin a little - it hurt.<p>

Noise in the background, some hushing and some shushing as it seemed like someone ushered the others out. An eye ventured to open, but Lovino quickly tightened it shut at the bright light shining in. Since when did he sleep so close to the surface?

"Are you okay, Lovino?" Came a voice foreign to any sea creature the prince knew. It was Antonio. Lovino's fingers traced the material underneath it. It was soft and delicate, very unlike the seabed.

"He'll be okay with me," Antonio assured Eric and Roderich, "I've taken care of him before."

"Yeah, coming from the guy who didn't even know to get his fish out of the water." Came Eric's snapped response, trying to get past the Captain's extended arms, preventing both the crewman and sailing master from getting towards the merman on the bed.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I slipped up. At least Roderich told me about it and he's safe now." Antonio tried his luck, knowing that it'd be hard to get the worked up crewman before him to calm down. Thankfully he didn't have to.

"Relax, Eric," And there was Roderich to the rescue, "I'm sure Lovino can't be that badly injured. He'll be alright with the captain."

And with an exaggerated snort, Eric left the captain's cabin, giving Antonio a sort of look which read "If shit comes up I'm dragging you to hell."

Needless to say Antonio had very much shivered at eye contact.

"Well, you really need to get going to Lovino now." Roderich said, nodding his head towards the awakening merman and taking his leave.

Antonio let out a sigh of relief and closed the door, finally able to be rid of the frustrated maternal friend Lovino had made. The spaniard allowed his eyes to rest on the merman on his bed, slowly shifting around as he woke up. It was an adorable sight, really, as the merman had been given a comfy and warm, although rather oversized, dark fur coat during his slumber. It belonged to the one and only Antonio, of course.

"Hey, you awake yet?" Antonio asked gently as he walked towards the bed, taking a seat at the chair that he had placed next to the bed. The captain of one of the most sought after pirate ships did and does not, to this very day, admit to having sat there most of the night, talking softly to the sleeping merman.

The merman winced. Antonio didn't know why, but he grimaced anyways, wish he could just take away whatever pain Lovino was under. Instinctively, the captain gave a light peck on top of the merman's forehead.

And it was then Lovino decided to jerk awake, his head banging onto Antonio's jaw, leaving both to curse at the sudden jolt of pain at the contact.

"What on earth were you doing?" Lovino complained, eyes screwed shut as his hand massaged his temple.

"I could ask you the same thing." Antonio replied, caressing his chin, talking in a very odd and barely clear manner. Lovino opened his eyes and, after a second to adjust to the bright morning sunshine, settled his eyes on his caretaker and raising a lazy but questioning eyebrow.

After what seemed like Antonio gargling out his reply, the captain sat up straight and tried replying again. "_I_," He pointed to himself, "Bit my _tongue_." He continued in a horrible sounding accent. It was as if his consonants were messed up and the vowels all sounded the same.

Despite the situation, and himself being the cause of it, Lovino let out a laugh. He tried covering his mouth in an attempt to silence himself, but became a giggling mess instead. Antonio faked hurt, but smiled nonetheless. He liked the merman's warm laugh.

* * *

><p>Lovino continued to stay in Antonio's large bed for the next few days. He liked how soft and comforting the jacket was around him, as well as the sheets of the bed. His tail stuck out from the edge of the bed awkwardly, but that was okay. Antonio chose to use a pillow and instead sleep on the floor without hesitation. Lovino was thankful for that notion, despite not having even suggested it.<p>

Staying up in the room did have it's downsides. Lovino required a bucket of water next to the bed in order to keep himself with a little water here and there. Heading north, as explained by Eric, had also meant that the atmosphere held much more water vapour than back when their whole journey first started. This meant that he didn't actually need as much water on his body, as the air was moist enough to take care of it for him. His tail, on the other hand, was fragile and needed to be taken care of every once in awhile. Sometimes Lovino would wake up in the middle of the night to the cracking of skin or scales, but it was never really too bad that he couldn't handle.

The coat the merman had been given was now ever wet. It didn't really provide as much warmth as it would dry, but it still comforted him to have something around him. Somehow, it felt just like the ocean, yet it was a totally different feeling. Rather than light and free, the damp coat was heavy. Rather than being trapped, it gave Lovino a sense of comfort.

And then there was Antonio. He was much closer to his childhood friend now, and that was always good. Eric came in and chatted once in awhile, when the captain had to leave. The crewman usually came under the excuse of taking food for Lovino or cleaning the Captain's room, no matter how lame it was, but was allowed in anyways.

All in all, Lovino had fun.

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><p><strong>AN:** Okay, so they didn't exactly have sweaters. Close enough.

Also, I'd like to deeply apologize for taking _a whole fucking year_ to get back with this. I'm so so so deeply sorry. A recent review had made me finally realize I needed to get whatever shit I started done. And here is me trying to redeem myself.

As always, thank you for reading and please leave any comments and/or critiques in the reviews! I haven't actually properly proofread this yet. I'll fix any mistakes I see along the way.

I'm also considering revamping the older chapters, though I'm not really sure about it. Opinions?

Finally, thank you so much for being patient(?) with me. Unless you had mentally killed me three thousand times already, although that would be pretty cool too.


	10. Author's Note

**Author's Note**.

I'm revamping my story from beginning till where I've stopped. From there, I will continue on as per usual. The reason for this is that there have been plot holes found as well as my writing in general pretty much sucked. Everything's going to be edited, and hopefully questions would be answered.

I would also like to thank Scarlet Daydreamer for helping me plan through a plot to continue from the predicament I found myself in. Scarlet has helped me so much throughout my writing for this story, and I'm really glad to be able to write a plot given from her/him.

So I'll just updated the chapters from beginning to end. Expect awhile before I finally finish each chapter and continue. It could take quite awhile.

And as for this Author's Note update chapter, it'll be changed to another chapter.  
>I'll use this as a major Author's Update page for now until the time comes for it to go, I guess?<p>

So yeah, look out for the updates. Go ahead and review with critiques and comments! What worked, what didn't, anything. I love feedback!


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